Let Me Tell You About My Bestfriend
by xlyphiechanx
Summary: They're best friends...or something more? / [Natsu x Lucy] College AU. (Only Rated T because college.)
1. Introduction

It was an ordinary Monday morning.

Well, ordinary for everyone _besides_ Lucy Heartphilia.

She was currently snoozing away in her large queen sized bed, pink sheets wrapped around her petite little body. Drool was sliding down her chin as she dreamed about Channing Tatum and his proposal to her in Hawaii.

"Channing I thought you'd never ask…" She says sleepily, a delirious smile on her lips as she hugs her pillow close to her chest.

It was such a peaceful morning as the birds were chirping outside of her apartment window and the colorful fall leaves were blowing gently in the whispering breeze.

That is until her alarm blares like a madman.

"W-WAH!" Lucy squeaks, jumping five feet in the air as she abruptly awoken from her magical dream with Channing.

She sits up in her bed, her hair a complete and absolute frizzy mess as she takes the rosy pink sleep mask that has "Queen" written across the front with gold letters off. She shakes her head and lets her tangled gold locks fall onto her bare shoulders.

Her face twists in annoyance.

"We were just about to kiss." She pouts, plopping back down on her bed. Her head hits the fluffy pink pillow and she stares up at the ceiling.

Drowsiness washes over her and her lids become heavy.

"Pucker up…baby…"

She's dreaming about Channing in less than a minute.

.

.

.

Her honey brown eyes flutter open and her vision focuses on the white ceiling of her apartment.

Groaning, she stretches her tired arms and sits up in bed.

Her brain still disoriented, she gets up and out of bed ready to start her morning.

"Wait…" She whispers to herself once she's in the bathroom with a toothbrush in her mouth staring at herself in the mirror. Her hair was a mess, sticking up in all different directions and some nice bags adorned her pale complexion.

For some reason, there was something nagging her inside of her brain.

Was today…important or something? She thought as she continues to brush.

Her chocolate eyes widen to the size of watermelons as makes an "o" with her mouth, toothpaste dripping from her opened mouth.

"IT'S THE FIRST DAY OF UNIVERSITY!" She screams to herself, spitting out the toothbrush and shoving her mouth under the sink.

After successfully rinsing all of the toothpaste out of her mouth, she checks the clock in her bedroom and sees that she has 10 minutes before her first class starts.

She pounds a palm against her forehead and mentally curses at what an idiot she is.

In a flash, she races to her desk chair where she'd draped her clothes the night before. The blonde throws on her outfit, combs through her beyond tangled hair, and finds her white colored backpack, which she flings over her shoulder and races towards the bedroom window of her apartment.

She opens the window and sees that the light of the window directly across from hers across the street is still off.

A smile curves on her lips.

 _So he overslept too._

At least she wasn't alone.

Looking around her bedroom she finds a tennis ball, who knows why she has a tennis ball but she doesn't have time to think about that at the moment, and she shoves it in her backpack before racing out the door.

Once she's out on the busy streets of Magnolia, she races across the street without looking both ways and angry drivers honk at her as they slam the brakes to let the blonde beauty pass.

"Sorry!" She squeaks, smiling apologetically as an older man who drives a cherry red pick up truck gives her the middle finger.

 _Rude…_

She thinks to herself as she makes it to the other end of the street and is in front of the apartment building just across the street from hers.

Smirking, she tosses the tennis ball up and down in her palm before aiming for the window on the second floor.

"Here goes nothing."

And with that, she backs up a little swinging her arm in a pitcher like fashion before running and whipping the ball as hard as she can at the window.

The tennis ball flies through the air, but at the same time the window opens.

Lucy watches as a male sticks half of his body out the window,"Oh hey Lu-" and the green tennis ball hits him right in the face causing him to fall backwards and emit a very loud "OW!" A loud thud and some things falling are heard from the second floor.

The blonde blinks a few times before bursting out in laughter.

"What'd you do that for?!" The male asks, sticking his head back out the window and rubbing his forehead, which is tinged a shade of red and has a round mark on it.

Lucy laughs even harder upon seeing him and just how ridiculous he looks.

"Stop laughing! You're going to get it." He says, squinting his eyes at her before slamming the window shut and retreating back into his apartment.

Lucy's sides hurt from laughing so much and she wipes tears that fall from her eyes.

He looked like a complete idiot! Oh, she hopes that the surveillance cameras on the sides of the street got that.

Checking her rose gold watch, she sees that she now has only seven minutes before class starts.

"Shoot." She mutters under her breath realizing that her injured companion and her teacher were both going to kill her.

She needed to move.

But before she can do so the doors to the entrance of the apartment complex fling open revealing a pink haired male dressed in a grey t-shirt and well fitted jeans along with high-tops.

The look on his face is devilish and Lucy gulps.

"Sorry?" She says cutely.

He begins advancing towards her cracking his knuckles dramatically and Lucy high tails it out of there, running down the streets of Magnolia.

"GET BACK HERE LUCY!" He yells loudly, loud enough to wake up the whole town, as he chases her to school.

She laughs the whole way there knowing that he'd catch up to her eventually and fling her over his shoulder just like he did every day in highschool.

Oh and the guy she hit with a tennis ball?

That was her best friend.

Natsu Dragneel.

.

.

.

* * *

 **a/ n:**

 _New NaLu story!_

 _You guys i'm super excited to start this one you have no idea. I'm like in love with the setting and the idea of it._

 _i hope you all will enjoy it and please enjoy this small introductory chapter! I promise next chapter will be much longer._

 _Leave a review and let me know what you think!_

 _LOVE Y'ALL_

 _Until next chapter, toodles~_


	2. Chapter 1: Idiot

**a / n:**

 _Gonna write my notes up here since it's easier and I'm too lazy to scroll lolol._

 _Short chapter, but I'm working on next chapter and it'll get more into the plot of things._

 _Aren't Natsu and Lucy like the most precious things ever in this story?! I fangirl as I write._

 _Leave a review please and let me know what you think! Got some suggestions? Feel free to leave them I'd love to hear your thoughts!_

XOXO

* * *

"HERE!" The two yell simultaneously, both bursting the door to their class open.

"Move it Natsu, you're in my way!" Lucy yells, shoving his head into the doorframe as they fight to get through the door.

"Me?! You move weirdo I got here first!" He retorts, grunting as he tries to squeeze past her and grabs her thigh to try and get some force by pushing off of her.

"Don't touch me you hog!" She shrieks, shoving his sweaty hand off her thigh and elbowing him in the ribs.

He stumbles back and Lucy triumphantly makes it through the door, a proud smile on her lips as she turns around to face her friend who glares at her.

"Lady's first, right Natsu?" She sticks her tongue out at him and turns around, ready to happily take a seat at an open desk when she's met with two cold charcoal eyes.

"Eep!" She squeaks, jumping from the proximity and backing away.

"Are you Lucy Heartphilia and Natsu Dragneel?" He asks, standing straight as his figure towers over the petite blonde.

Lucy practically pees herself from fright.

He had shoulder length redish brown hair and his eyes looked like they went to hell and back. He looked like someone you'd see in a wrestling arena.

"Y-Yes." She peeps out, her voice small as she realizes all eyes of the class are on her, this scary man, and Natsu who is now standing beside her with a raised brow.

She felt her cheeks flush with embarrassment at the predicament.

She hears a few classmates snicker and some whispering going on in the background. Looking around the room she notices that everyone is staring right at the three of them.

Lucy could die on the spot.

Lucy looks at Natsu from the corner of her eyes.

If he opens his mouth and says something stupid Lucy was going to clobber him.

The man scrutinizes the both of them before a creepy attempt at a mocked smile appears on his features.

"I'm your professor, professor Clide, welcome to your first class of University. Oh and-," He pulls out two yellow slips and sticks them on both of the students' foreheads before they can protest," I'll be seeing you two in detention."

Lucy pales.

.

.

.

"Don't talk to me." Lucy snaps, rushing through the halls as a stupid pink haired idiot trails behind her apologizing for the tenth time.

"Luce, it was funny you gotta admit. The whole class was laughing!" He tries to lighten the mood and Lucy halts in her steps causing him to stumble forward before picking himself back up.

She turns her head and shoots him the deadliest glare he'd ever seen.

"I hate you." She says, scrunching up her face before stomping away.

It was by all means _not_ funny to Lucy at all. No one in class dared to talk to her, probably thinking she was some freak who hung out with someone who had freaking bubblegum colored hair. They just whispered and kept looking back at the two of them. Natsu, who was as dense as bricks, was completely oblivious to it but the blonde would squirm in her seat and avert her eyes awkwardly every chance she got.

She absolutely loathed the extra attention especially since it was embarrassing.

Natsu rolls his eyes at her childish behavior and continues to follow her like a puppy.

During class, Lucy didn't bother uttering a word to him and since they were forced to sit next to each other due to their tardiness…well it didn't help the situation.

Now, school was over, they were wandering back to their morning class to begin their hour-long detention.

Lucy dragged her feet into the class, already planning on just completing her homework in piece while listening to some Taylor Swift.

"Ah, welcome Lucy," He nods to her," Natsu," And he nods Natsu's way as he walks in a second later.

"'Sup?" Natsu greets with a wave and proceeds to go take a seat in the far back.

Professor's vein pops in the top of his forehead but he lets it slide as he sighs loudly.

Lucy decides to stay as far away from the rosette as possible and seats her self in the very front towards the door so that when it's time to go she can book it.

"You are to be silent for an hour. Do you work or stare at the ceiling, but no phones out." He says strictly before flipping open his laptop and beginning some work of his own.

Lucy sighs tiredly and decides to start some of her assignments.

Not even five minutes in and something small and light hits the back of Lucy's head.

She flinches, almost emits a squeak but conceals it.

She decides to ignore it, returning back to writing in her notebook.

Something hits her head again.

"Ignore it, Lucy." She tells herself, inhaling sharply through her nose to relax herself.

She forces her eyes to glue to her work and her mind to tune her surroundings out.

It works.

For a good thirty seconds.

"Psst. Psst. Luce." Natsu whispers, not very quietly, trying to grab her attention.

The blonde feels her blood boil.

Did he want to get the both of them in even more trouble?!

"Luuuuuuuuce." He whines, a little louder this time.

Her left eye twitches as she drops her pencil.

She is left with no choice.

Whipping her head around she gives him an icy glare.

"What the hell do you want?" She whispers angrily.

"Look." He points his finger towards the front of the room.

Lucy spins her head around to where he's pointing.

She sees that their professor has his head resting against the back of his chair and his eyes are closed shut.

Lucy can't believe it but he's actually…sleeping.

She turns her head back around to face Natsu.

"Natsu, no." She says sternly, seeing that Natsu has a devilish look in his eyes and a mischievous smirk on his lips.

He pouts at her.

"Come on Luce, it's like when we were in high school." He whines.

"We aren't in high school anymore," Lucy retorts.

The rosette begins to get up from his seat, a marker in hand.

"Natsu sit the fudge down." She says strictly, her eyes piercing into his soul as he sticks his tongue out at her and proceeds to walk to the front of the room.

He ignores her command and wiggling his black marker in the air, creeps all the way up to the professor's desk. He begins to lower the marker onto his cheek.

 _THUD!_

Lucy slams her notebook against her desk, emitting a loud sound that echoes throughout the large classroom.

She smirks as the professor opens his tired eyes and Natsu's legs turn shaky.

Two can play at that game.

.

.

.

"I was about to get him so good why would you ever do that?!" Natsu complains, walking backwards on the sidewalk as he talks to the blonde whose eyes are focused on her cellphone.

After he had been caught the teacher made him clean every inch of his class and file all of his papers. It was torture.

Lucy ignores him, humming a tune as she strolls past him.

"Don't ignore me!" He chases after her.

"Natsu, you're the one that got me a freaking detention on the first day of University. Why would I _want_ to talk to you?" She asks him, giving him a pointed stare before returning to scrolling through twitter.

He pouts.

"'Cause we're best friends?" He tries, scratching the back of his head.

Lucy rolls her eyes.

"I'm going to have zero friends if I continue associating myself with you." She retorts, shaking her head.

He snickers.

"You never even had friends, so I think you'll be okay." He bickers lightheartedly.

By the time they both make it to their apartments their bickering like a couple.

"You know what I'm just going to go home because looking at you hurts my I.Q." Lucy yells loudly, her face scrunching in disgust as she spins on her heel and storms for her apartment.

Seriously, what was with him?

First he decides to get them both a detention and then he just argues with her the whole way home like she hasn't already had enough of him?

She needed to go home, take a long bath, and just relax.

But, halfway across the street the blonde feels her feet float off the ground and two muscular arms wrap around her waist.

"Not so fast missy, we're not done yet." He says, twirling her around as fast as possible in hopes of making her dizzy.

"P-Put me down you idiot!' She yells, attempting to squirm out of his strong hold.

But, she doesn't get far because before she knows she's being carried back to his apartment. And she knows that once he puts her down he'll make her make him her secret spicy nacho recipe and then they'll sit on the couch and she'll force him to do the homework he didn't do during his detention while she watches the latest episode on the TV series she's been watching.

To her, it's like high school all over again.

But, to someone watching them on the street…

"Just who is that girl to him?" A blue eyed girl wonders as she watches the rosette haul the shouting blonde into the apartment.

 _Until next chapter, toodles~_

 _(yeah i scrolled down yay for finger workouts)_


	3. Chapter 2: Sushi

**a / n:**

 _WOAH this chapter is long._

 _I loved writing Natsu and Lucy's interactions! So I hope you guys enjoy it!_

 _Please let me know what you think of the story! I'm trying my best to make it as good as can be!  
Okay bye for now toodles~_

* * *

Lucy walks into class, giving a small-frightened wave to her professor who only squints her way. After yesterday's events she promised herself that she'd try to get on good terms with her professor, even if he hated her guts.

Unfortunately for her, she had a small headache due to Natsu and her loosing track of time the night before and she didn't end up going home until 2 in the morning.

One word: Mario Kart.

Okay two words, but the point is made.

Enough said.

Gulping, she looks around the classroom to try and find an open seat. Her eyes scan the decently sized room and she spots a petite girl with short blue hair and orange glass. She smiles shyly when she catches Lucy staring and the blonde mirrors an awkward smile of her own.

They stare at each other for a little and Lucy decides to take the empty seat next to her.

"Hi can I sit here?" The blonde asks politely, a shy smile on her lips.

The girl beams at her.

"Of course you can! I'm Levy by the way." She says happily, and Lucy takes a seat a little astonished that this petite blue haired girl was so outgoing.

Judging just by her appearance she seemed like someone that was very shy and reserved, but just by her introduction Lucy could tell this girl was a whole other story.

"I'm Lucy." The blonde says, pulling out a notebook and a pencil from her bag.

Levy giggles to herself.

"I'm pretty sure everyone in this room knows who you and Natsu are." She laughs to herself as the blonde flushes a rosy color.

"S-Shut up he was the one who was shoving me at the doorway." She folds her arms over her chest, looking at the doorway as Natsu enters the class with a raven-haired male by his side.

By the looks of it they seem to be laughing about something.

So Natsu could make friends? What a surprise.

"Are you two like, you know, dating?" Levy asks, her brows wiggling as Lucy gawks.

"Are you serious? No way, Natsu's my best friend he's like a brother." She explains, laughing a little at the thought that her and Natsu would date.

The guy smelt like hot sauce and cat litter, no way would she want someone like that to date her. Not to mention Natsu is as dense as a brick, he probably doesn't even know what love is.

Levy raises a brow but drops the topic.

The blonde looks over at a book lying on Levy's desk and her heart skips a beat from excitement.

"No way you like this author too?!" Lucy beams, pointing in the direction of the book.

Levy's face brightens immediately.

"Oh she's my favorite her writing is so unique and it speaks to the heart. I've never met someone that's read her books before." Levy squeals, her eyes bright.

The two continue to ramble on about books before the teacher slams a ruler against the whiteboard and class begins.

Not before Natsu makes a witty joke about his ruler being longer than his…well you know.

Lucy sticks her tongue out at him as yet another detention slip is stuck to his forehead.

.

.

.

"Lu-chan, come study with me at the library!" Levy says brightly as the bell rings indicating the end of class.

"Sure, let me just tell Natsu to make sure he does his physics homework before his class starts. I'll meet you there!" Lucy says brightly, waving her a goodbye before catching up with Natsu at the door where he's already waiting for her.

They begin walking towards the library together.

"Yo." He greets her, shoving her shoulder playfully.

She shoves back, a little harder.

"Don't forget to do your physics homework, you have a free block." She says like a mother, giving him a stern look.

He rolls his eyes.

"Yes mom." He mocks and she hits his shoulder playfully.

"Do it though because I am not coming over tonight and doing it for you." She says in a mock sweetness before opening the doors to the campus library and skipping in.

Natsu groans dramatically entering as well.

Lucy immediately spots Levy sitting near the window with a few other people who are all chatting. They're the loudest in the room and the librarian looks utterly pissed as she stares at them at her desk with her glasses on and her brows furrowed.

Lucy sweat drops as she nervously approaches them.

Not even halfway to the table, Levy stands from her seat and waves her arms in the air towards the blonde.

"LU-CHAN OVER HERE!" She screams loudly, all eyes in the library turning on her and the blonde.

Lucy flinches at her loud voice.

She gives an awkward wave before scrambling over.

"You guys are pissing the librarian off." Lucy states as she pulls out a chair next to Levy and sits down.

The other girls at the table all laugh.

"She just thinks she has authority, we know who the librarian likes so we have the upper hand." A brown haired girl says.

Lucy notices that she's holding a beer bottle in her hand.

"Guys, this is Lucy. Lucy these are my friends." Levy introduces her, a smile on her face as she takes a seat.

"Hello Lucy it's nice to meet you I hope we will be great friends. I'm Erza." The girl to her right says, a warm smile on her face as she extends a hand.

Lucy notices that Erza has long crimson colored hair and the face of a model.

She smiles back.

"Yes me too, nice to meet you." They shake hands.

"I'm Cana, and this here is my fourth beer." She raises her bottle in a friendly greeting, a slurred smile on her lips.

Lucy smiles back politely, feeling slightly confused as to why Cana was even allowed to drink beer.

Levy leans over and whispers in Lucy's ear.

"Cana's dad is a teacher here so she can do whatever she wants and everyone knows beer is like water to her. She's rarely sober, you'll get used to it."

Lucy only nods.

The last girl clears her throat and Lucy looks over to see a white haired beauty with the bluest eyes she's ever seen. Lucy's eyes practically pop out of their sockets.

She'd never seen a girl so pretty besides the models in magazines.

"I'm Lisanna, it's nice to meet you Lucy. I hope all of us can be good friends." She smiles sweetly.

"Me too." Lucy replies with a smile of her own.

The blonde feels her heart warm. All of these people were so nice, she was really lucky to meet them and not be stuck friendless and with that rose haired idiot.

They all pull out their homework.

Of course, it's more gossip than actual homework. But, Lucy enjoys it.

"Erza I never knew you were that type of girl!" Lisanna says from across the table, her mouth shaped in an "o" as she gawks at the crimson haired beauty.

Erza's face matches her hair.

"We w-were in the c-conference room and it j-just happened." She admits shyly, her cheeks burning as she stammers. She slides down in her seat a little to hide her embarrassment.

Levy snickers.

"But still with the VP of the student council? That's bold girlfriend." She laughs as Erza's face practically melts off.

"But Jellal is hot so I don't blame you." Cana adds in the conversation, her legs propped up on the table as she sips on her beer.

Lucy just listens but looks at Erza with a sense of admiration. She managed to hook up with the VP.

Lucy feels someone nudge her shoulder.

She looks over to see Lisanna leaning across the table and poking her with a pencil.

"What about you Lucy? You and Natsu seem pretty close." The white haired beauty says, pointing her pencil across the library to where said person was sitting with three other guys throwing paper airplanes at each other and butting heads about something.

Typical stupid Natsu.

Immediately Lucy makes a disgusted face.

"Natsu and I? No way, he's my best friend." She laughs finding it to be a great joke.

Many people would always assume that her and the rose haired male were a couple due to their close behavior but she always found it humorous and so did he. They knew where they stood.

And they were best friends.

Nothing less and nothing more.

Lisanna's eyes seem to bright up as Lucy mentions this.

"He's hot." Cana says bluntly and Lucy looks over to her.

She can't help but laugh.

"Okay, you can think that."

All the girls raise their brows towards Lucy.

"You don't think Natsu is hot? Oh come on that' definitely not true." Lisanna says, her voice a little shocked.

Lucy feels herself completely blank.

Did she think he was hot? She'd never looked at him that way before.

She shakes her thoughts out of her head.

 _What am I thinking? It's freaking Natsu._

Opening her mouth to answer that she indeed thinks his face resembles a garbage can she's interrupted as someone swings their arms around her shoulders and she feels a chin rest on her right shoulder.

"'Course Luce thinks I'm hot. What are you guys blind?" Natsu teases, earning a snicker from the boys behind him.

Lucy turns a shade of red at his stupid remark and shrugs him off.

"In your dreams." She retorts, looking up and glaring at him.

He shines his canine teeth at her and chuckles.

"Hey you guys should join us for sushi tonight! We're all going." Lisanna suggests cheerfully, her eyes shining as Natsu cheers.

"Sushi?! Hell yeah! Luce can we go?" He asks her, as if he needs her approval, and all eyes turn to her. Even the boys, who are standing around the table, raise their brows.

Lucy feels her face flush at the attention.

"Why are you asking me?! Of course we can go you idiot."

He pumps his fist in the air.

"You hear that ice princess, I'm going to eat way more Sushi than you!" He challenges.

"Ice Princess" or the guy with the raven hair Lucy saw walking into class with Natsu earlier this morning, butts head with him. They glare at each other a rough and boyish smile on each other their lips.

"What'd you say flame brain?" He taunts, his eyes fiery.

Lucy can't help but gawk at the two.

It looked like he fit in so naturally with this group of boys. Just the same as she fit in so well with the group of girls she'd met literally ten minutes ago.

"Stop it you two, immediately." A strict voice booms, and Lucy sees Erza glaring at the two of them with hell radiating in her eyes.

The two gulp and immediately shudder.

Erza was definitely scary.

"S-Sorry." They both cower and Lucy bites back a laugh.

So Natsu was afraid of something. She could definitely tease him about this later.

"So, can we study with you guys or what?" A blue haired male from the group says and Lucy notices that he has an odd red tattoo on his face.

"Sure! The more the merrier!" Levy smiles, inviting them all to take the empty seats at the table.

"Shrimp, help me with this equation." A male with piercings littering his face says.

Lucy notes that he looks very intimidating.

"Gajeel this is summer work don't tell me you haven't started!" Levy says, scolding him while the rest of the group laughs.

The blonde lifts a brow as she observes the two battling over a math equation. She bites back laughter as she notices Levy's cheeks turn scarlett as Gajeel makes a teasing remark.

They probably didn't know it, but they definitely liked each other.

The blue haired male takes a seat near Erza and they begin to discuss something along the lines of student council and planning the next festival event.

"Luce want to do my homework?" Natsu asks, sliding over his work from the previous class. He decided to sit right next to her and Lucy saw that the raven-haired male took a seat to her left, squeezing himself in-between her and Levy.

Lucy scoffs.

"In your dreams." She retorts, pushing his paper back towards him.

"Come on." He whines, sliding it back towards her.

"Leave her alone fire breath, she clearly doesn't want to do your work." He cuts in and Natsu shoots him a glare.

"Like you know what Luce wants and doesn't want to do." He retorts.

Lucy raises a brow at the hint of protectiveness in his voice.

But, she dismisses it quickly just thinking he's being stupid and picking a fight.

Soon enough they're bickering turns into a brawl between different ramen flavors.

Lucy, who is twitching with nerves, clamps both of their mouths with the palm of her hands and shoots both of them an icy glare.

"Shut up and let me do my work in peace." She snarls, a black aura around her petite body. The two sweat drop before returning to work silently, not daring to utter a word.

"She can be even scarier than Erza…" Levy whispers to Gajeel who only nods with scared eyes in return.

.

.

.

Evening time rolls around sooner than expected.

She hadn't seen Natsu since school but it didn't bother her since she had to focus on getting her work done before the group went out for sushi.

A warm feeling rises in her chest as she thinks of the group of friends she met today.

She was glad that they all welcomed her with open arms. She didn't even imagine that she'd be able to meet such kind people who she immediately clicked with. She felt like she knew them for ages.

Turns out, that they all were childhood friends and they all knew each other growing up.

Now, walking to the sushi place with her rose purse swinging as she walks, the blonde is feeling anxious.

What if they didn't like what she was wearing? Was putting her hair up in a ponytail to casual? What was she even going to talk about? All of these people knew each other…she was an outsider.

Feeling jittery, she enters the campus sushi place.

Immediately upon walking in she can already hear the hollering of Natsu.

So he got here earlier than her.

Relaxing her shoulders as she spots the group, the blonde walks over awkwardly.

"Lu you made it!" Levy chirps happily, patting a wooden chair next to her indicating for her to sit down.

The group is seated at a large circular table.

Lucy does so, and smiles at everyone.

"You guys are so loud I heard you the minute I walked in." She laughs.

"Natsu and Gray have been arguing since we walked through the doors and they got all the boys riled up for a sushi eating competition." Lisanna explains, stealing a few glances at Natsu as she speaks. A rose colored adorns her pale cheeks as she speaks.

Lucy raises a brow at that.

"What idiot wants to compete in a sushi eating competition?" She scoffs.

Natsu's sharp hearing picks up on this from across the table and he slams his fists against the wood of the table. His dark eyes challenge Lucy's the minute their gazes meet.

"You only say that because you know that if you participated you'd lose." He challenges earning a "good one" and some pats on the back from the boys.

Lucy folds her arms over her chest as her left eye twitches in irritation. All of the girls raise their brows at the boys.

"I bet I could beat you in a heartbeat." Lucy boasts, giving him a determined stare as her lips curve into a smirk.

"Oh yeah?" He smirks devilishly.

Erza slams down her drink of iced tea.

All eyes turn her way.

"The competition of who can eat the most sushi begins. Boys vs girls. Whoever wins gets to choose the punishment for the losing team." She declares and everyone listens attentively like she's the president of the United States.

The boys all pump their fists in the air.

"You're going down!" Natsu yells.

"I'll eat more than all of you!" Gray shouts.

Natsu butts heads with Gray.

"I'll eat more than you Ice prick!"

"In your dreams!"

The group watches as they strangle each other while racing to the buffet.

"Wait up Salamander!" Gajeel yells, scrambling from his seat and rushing to the buffet.

Soon enough everyone follows.

Lucy throws as much sushi as she can on her plate, shoving past her competitors.

Once she successfully gets at least ten pieces of sushi on her plate she rushes back to the table to see the boys, all minus Jellal, licking their plates clean.

"Time to get seconds!" The three of them scream in unison as they whiz past Lucy. On the way past her Gray scoops one her sushi's into his hands and gives her a wink.

"Waiting tables? Thanks Lucy." He winks before rushing to the buffet.

Lucy's cheeks heat up a little.

She's flabbergasted by his cute wink for a split second before she realizes he took one of her sushi pieces.

"S-Stupid!" She manages to stutter out before taking a seat and shoving her face.

Half an hour and hundreds of sushi pieces later, the group sits in their seats and holds their stomachs groaning.

All but two.

"How do they keep going?" Levy asks, clearly surprised as she stares at the duo.

Lucy and Natsu continue shoving sushi down their throats.

The rosette slams his plate down.

The blonde does the same.

Simultaneously they look over to the buffet to see one sushi piece left.

"I CALL DIBS!" They both yell, shooting from their seats and racing to the buffet.

With Natsu in the front Lucy steps onto a wooden chair and jumps on his back, tackling him to the floor.

"That sushi piece is mine!" She yells.

They roll around the floor, wrestling with each other.

The group watches in amusement.

Natsu somehow manages to roll Lucy on her back and pin her hands down by her ears.

He gives her a devilish grin.

"No way Luce, that sushi piece is _mine._ "

And with that he scrambles up and for the buffet, but just before he runs off Lucy grabs the pants of his leg and he stumbles face first.

"HA!" She cheers victoriously, already racing towards the buffet and triumphantly grabbing the piece of sushi and plopping it in her mouth.

All the girls go wild, forgetting their stomach aches, and cheer like crazy.

"I knew you could do it Lu!"

"Very nice work Lucy."

"Alright, go Lucy!"

"Should we punish them by making them buy us a pack of beer?"

Lucy giggles at her new friends as they all crowd around her at the buffet.

"How'd you do it?" Asks Lisanna.

Lucy scratches the back of her head sheepishly.

"When we were little Natsu and I would always have food eating competitions. Being competitive is in our blood I guess." She laughs, her friends all gawking at her.

"No wonder you and Natsu are so close!" Lisanna says, her eyes becoming a little sadder although her voice is bright.

Lucy just nods.

"He's a pain in the butt though."

The girls all break into laughter.

"So what's the boys punishment?" Levy asks the girls.

A large smirk sets on Lucy's lips.

"They'll pay the check for tonight."

All the girls rub their hands together maliciously.

.

.

.

"That was some skill Lucy." Gray admits as the group walks back to their apartments.

Levy, Gajeel, Cana, Erza, and Jellal had already left to go to the dorms while the rest lived in apartments off campus.

That left only Lucy, Natsu, Gray, and Lisanna.

She was walking behind Natsu and Lisanna with Gray by her side.

"More like being blinded by competition." She laughs and he joins her.

"Still, it was pretty awesome." He flatters her, smiling.

Lucy's cheeks turn a little rosy at his boyish grin.

"W-Well you stole one of my pieces!" She remembers, shooting a finger of accusation his way.

Gray scoffs.

"I had to pay half of my paycheck just to cover what you and Natsu ate!" He retorts.

Lucy scowls at him, knowing that losing money is far worse than losing a piece of sushi.

"Fine, you win."

He laughs, flicking her forehead.

"Don't cry over it okay?" He jokes and Lucy feels her cheeks turn rosy as she slaps him on the shoulder.

The whole group falls into a comfortable silence as they all stop at a stop sign. The four wave to each other and part ways as Gray and Lisanna take a right to go home and Natsu and Lucy take a left.

The walk back home is full of talk.

"You're telling me you don't have the slightest stomachache?!" Lucy questions, scrutinizing him.

"Nope, I feel good as new. Could go to flips on a trampoline or something." He smirks.

Lucy pouts.

"I feel like I could blow up."

Natsu chuckles.

"You look like it too." He jokes and Lucy smacks him on the shoulder a little harder than usual.

"S-Shut up." She stammers, feeling a little insecure.

They finally reach their apartments, and Lucy stands at the front entrance.

"Well, this is where we say goodbye." Lucy says, looking up at Natsu who nods.

They're both silent for a little and Lucy notices that Natsu's left eyebrow is twitching a little.

"What's bothering you?" She asks him.

He snaps out of his thoughts and turns to face her with a shocked expression.

"How'd you know?" He asks.

She sighs.

"I've known you all my life, when something bothers you your left eyebrow twitches like it's having a seizure." She giggles.

He laughs a little too before squinting his eyes and scrutinizing her.

"So are you going to tell me?" She asks, feeling uncomfortable under his weird gaze.

His face relaxes after a few seconds and he shoves his hands into his pockets.

"Nope, night Luce!" He sticks his tongue out at her and races across the street towards his apartment.

"Hey! You can't just do that!" She yells as she watches him bolt.

"Can too!"

"Can not!"

"CAN TOO!"

"CAN NOT!"

"WILL YOU SHUT UP?!" Someone yells from their apartment.

The two zip their mouth shuts and race into their apartments before getting into even more trouble.

Once she's inside of her apartment and panting hard she laughs at what just happened.

Kicking off her shoes and putting on fresh pajamas, the blonde collapses on her bed and pulls out her phone.

Her eyes widen at the text she receives.

"Hey Lucy. I need your help and it involves Natsu."

 _-Lisanna._


	4. Chapter 3: Bonfire

**a / n:**

 _A LOT happened in this chapter._

 _I hope you guys enjoy it, don't kill me though. :P_

 _Please leave a review, let me know what you think!_

 _XOXO_

* * *

Walking into the library, Lucy locks gazes with the white haired beauty who is seated at a table by herself, sipping on a warm drink from Starbucks.

"Lucy, over here!" She waves, smiling brightly.

The blonde walks over and notices that no one else is here from the group. It was her free block, and this time yesterday the library was packed. Yet, today no one showed.

"Where is everyone?" Lucy asks, taking a seat across from Lisanna.

"They're all busy during their free period I guess." She says, shrugging her shoulders.

Lucy nods.

A small silence sinks in between the two as they begin to work on their homework. Looking at her paper and sneaking small glances at Lisanna, Lucy can't seem to figure out what's going on.

Taking in a breath, she decides to ask her just what her text was all about.

"So, Lisanna about your text-"

Lisanna's eyes immediately widen and her cheeks flush.

"Y-You have to keep this b-between us!" She squeaks, her eyes burning into the blonde's as she stares at her intently.

Lucy swallows hard, feeling like Lisanna could rip her head off if she didn't agree.

"O-Of course Lisanna. But what's going on?" The blonde asks, already feeling like this is going downhill.

Lisanna hesitates before speaking.

"I-I think I like…I like…" She trails, her cheeks turning rosier every time she tries to utter the crush's name.

Lucy's mind turns it's gears and then something clicks.

She can't help but bite back laughter.

"Lisanna you can't be serious about this." She giggles and Lisanna flushes an even heavier shade of red.

"S-Shut up Lucy!" She stammers, her shy eyes staring at the notebook in front of her.

Lucy giggles a little more before realizing that Lisanna isn't actually playing a joke.

"Wait, you're actually serious. You like Natsu?" Lucy says, gaping at her.

Who would ever actually _like_ that idiot _romantically_? Lucy wonders.

Lisanna nods shyly, squirming in her chair.

"Oh my gosh you do!" Lucy screams, leaning across the table and staring at Lisanna with widened chocolate eyes.

"Yes I do, now will you please quiet down I don't want anyone to hear." She whispers, her cheeks still glowing.

Lucy plops back down in her seat still amazed.

So someone liked Natsu, huh?

"So, why are you telling me this?" Lucy asks, tilting her head to the side.

If she liked Natsu shouldn't she be telling him not her?

"Because you're his best friend…I thought maybe you could try and set us up? I mean if you want to I feel bad asking." She says quickly, getting flustered.

Lucy thinks about it and takes a good look at Lisanna.

She seemed like a nice girl, someone who cared about her friends and genuinely was kind-hearted. And, everyone seemed to love her in the group.

Surely she wasn't bad news.

"Of course I'll help you out. You can count on me." Lucy says proudly, although she's not sure if Natsu has one romantic cell in his brain.

Well, there's a first for everything.

Lisanna's eyes brighten immediately and she smiles the cutest smile Lucy has ever seen.

Seriously, how was this girl so gorgeous?! Lucy thinks to herself.

"Thank you Lucy that means so much to me!" She beams.

Lucy laughs a little nervously.

"It's no big deal." She says casually.

"Hey, I know this weekend there's a school bonfire on campus celebrating the first week of school. I guess they do it every year or something. You should totally come…oh and erm bring Natsu." She adds the last part in shyly, her pale cheeks turning rosy.

Lucy nods, a smile on her lips.

"I'd love to come! S'mores are my favorite you know." And she adds," And Natsu _loves_ bonfires." She winks at Lisanna on the last part.

"I can't wait!" Lisanna squeals, her cheeks blushing even more as Lucy can imagine her thinking up just how she was going to get Natsu to fall for her.

Lucy smiles at the white haired beauty, feeling genuinely happy that such a kind girl had fallen for her best friend.

But, there was one problem.

How did Natsu feel about Lisanna?

.

.

.

"Lisanna? Yeah what about her?" Natsu asks the blonde as he pops some popcorn into his mouth before resuming his videogame.

Lucy sighs next to him.

They're currently seated on the couch in Natsu's apartment. Lucy had come over to make sure he finished his studies, which surprisingly he had. So now she watched him play mortal combat.

"What's your impression of her?" Lucy asks, trying to make sure she picks the right words not to give away Lisanna's feelings.

Natsu, upon hearing this, pauses his game. He just stares at the screen, a look of focus glazing over his features as his brows knit.

Lucy had never seen him so focused before.

Did he return the feelings too?

Natsu's face relaxes and he looks over at Lucy.

"She's nice and we have a lot in common. When I walked home with her and you were behind me with Gray we had a good conversation. I think we'll be good friends." He says honestly, and then grabs his control and his eyes are back on the screen.

Lucy's mouth hangs open.

Never in her whole life had she heard Natsu make such an honest opinion about someone. And she'd known him ever since they were in diapers!

"So, basically you like her." Lucy states.

Natsu nods.

"I told you, I can see us being good friends." He answers vaguely, as he defeats his opponent and snickers.

At this Lucy feels a sliver of hope for Lisanna and Natsu.

She was going to be happy hearing about this.

"Man, Gray sucks at this game." He laughs, hitting the controls as a rematch begins.

"You're playing with Gray right now?" Lucy asks.

"Online. But he's still better than you Luce, don't worry no one will ever take the position of worst player from you." Natsu teases and Lucy smacks his shoulder.

"Take that back!" She pouts.

"Hehehe." He laughs maliciously, crushing the controller as he lands a final blow to Gray's character.

"Take it back…" She wiggles her eyebrows. "Or else."

"Or else what?" Natsu challenges, a brow raises as he looks away from the screen and at her.

Lucy's eyes turn mischievous and Natsu gulps.

"No, Luce, no." He says, knowing that that one look means only one thing.

"Tickle fight!"

She chases him throughout the apartment before he turns around with wiggling fingers and challenges that'd he'd tickle her to death.

She screams and turns on her heels running away from him.

But, their laughs echo throughout the whole entire apartment.

.

.

.

Friday rolled around sooner than expected.

With the week being stressful from school work and getting up early, Lucy had decided to call up a certain white haired beauty and go out to get her nails done.

Like Lucy had always told herself,

"Getting pampered is a girls way of relaxation." The blonde says to Lisanna as they are seated next to each other, getting their nails done.

"I couldn't agree more." She agrees, and the lady doing her nails begins to paint on the lilac color she had chosen.

"So Lisanna tell me," Lucy begins, her eyes shining as the gorgeous rosy pink is painted on her nails.

"This is a gorgeous color by the way." Lucy mentions to the woman who in return smiles.

Lisanna tilts her head, her blue eyes confused.

"Tell you what Lucy?" She asks.

Lucy smirks.

"Tell me just what you like about Natsu. I mean, you just met him like a day ago." She laughs a little.

Lisanna light rose color paints itself on her cheeks.

"W-Well it's not that I'm like in _love_ with him...but I want to get to know him more." She stammers a little, a shy smile on her lips.

Lucy nods in understanding.

"Well, lucky for you…" She leans in and whispers in Lisanna's ear,"I think he's kind of into you." She backs up and smirks at Lisanna who is flushed red.

"Y-You're kidding." She denies it, although there's a large smile on her lips.

"Nope, he told me himself he likes you." Lucy stretches the truth a little.

Okay, so maybe he didn't directly tell her he had feelings for her but he did hint that he liked her…even though he used the term "good friends." But, seeing Lisanna so flustered and smiling she couldn't just bring her hopes down.

She genuinely wanted to help set the two up.

And, Natsu never said he didn't not like her.

Lisanna's eyes brighten.

"H-He did?!" She beams.

Lucy nods, feeling a tinge of guilt.

"Don't be all surprised, girl you're to die for. Anyone would like you." She giggles as Lisanna hits her shoulder playfully.

"Stop it Lucy, look at yourself." She says.

The two giggle.

.

.

.

Wearing a black tight fitted long sleeve shirt and a rose scarf, the rosette slips on light washed jeans and a pair of flats. Spinning around and checking herself out in the mirror, she gives herself a satisfied nod and heads for the door.

"Luce, yo!" Natsu waves to her from across the street.

Lucy gives him a head nod type of wave.

He makes a disgusted face as he strolls across the street and to her side.

"Please, never try to look cool again it's revolting." He says pretending to vomit.

Lucy rolls her eyes at him.

"You only wish you were half as cool as me." She retorts like a smart-alek, beginning to walk towards the campus.

Natsu follows her and snorts.

"Oh Luce, you have to stop lying to yourself. It'll cause you to get wrinkles early," He leans in and their noses almost touch.

Lucy keeps a stoic expression as they walk.

"I think I already see a wrinkle." He makes a surprised face.

She steps on his foot in irritation.

"Ow!" He yelps, grabbing his foot and hopping around.

"I hope your toe is broken." She sticks her tongue out at him and continues to walk towards campus.

"H-Hey wait up!" He yells, doing an awkward limp run as he tries to catch up to her.

Approaching campus, Lucy can already smell the overwhelming scent of a bonfire. She already feels herself getting excited. She'd get a chance to hang out with all of her friends and hopefully set up the pink haired idiot with Lisanna.

Honestly what does she see in him?

Reaching the lake area of the campus, which is where the bonfire is being held, Lucy's eyes widen at the scene. There are so many students all talking and goofing off – she even spots couples making out a little bit over the PG viewing – and right in the middle is a huge bonfire that is only really seen in movies.

A smile breaks out on Lucy's face as she becomes giddy.

"Lu!" A high pitched and overexcited voice yells and Lucy is clobbered before she can look to her right.

They stumble a little and Lucy can feel all of the air being forced out of her by Levy's tight embrace.

"Levy, you're going to kill me." Lucy coughs, gasping for air just a little dramatically.

The blunette laughs and lets go.

"Come on, we're all hanging out by the lake." She says, grabbing Lucy's hand and dragging her over to said area.

"Look who showed up looking like a model." Lisanna says, coming over to Lucy and greeting her with a hug.

The blonde blushes a little, hating how all the boys immediately look over and give her a weird look. She gives them a cold stone glare over Lisanna's shoulders as she squeezes her friend back in their embrace.

Lisanna pulls away and leads the blonde to take a seat next to her on the blanket that's laid out on the grass.

"And then she stomped on my foot and now I think it's freaking broken." A whiney voice says, approaching the group.

Lucy rolls her eyes already knowing he's being a serious drama queen.

"So you basically got beat up by a girl?" The male next to him says, and as the two emerge from the shadows Lucy notices he's walking with Gray.

"You know Ice Prick, I never said that." Natsu retorts a little bitterely, glaring with fire in his eyes at him.

"But, you never denied it." He retorts smugly, folding his arms over his chest as Natsu butts heads with him.

"You wanna go?!" Natsu yells in his face.

"Hell yeah!" Gray's eyes become ice cold.

"Enough you two." A stern voice says, rising behind them with a frightening dark aura and eyes that could turn one to stone.

The two boys gulp as they stare at Erza.

"What was that Gray? You want to roast a marshmallow. Me too, let's go."Natsu says shakily, looping his arm over Gray's shoulders and the two of them force a laugh before strolling over like "bff's" towards the large fire.

Lisanna giggles at their antics.

A beer bottle is popped open.

Lucy looks over to where the sound had come from and sees Cana approaching, more like wobbling over, with a beer bottle in her hand or more like shoved in her mouth.

She plops down across from the girls, on the grass, and lays down flat on her back.

"How many snow angels do you think I can make?" She slurs, the bottle rolling away into the lake as it falls out of her hand.

Erza shoots up from her position.

"Littering is considered breaking the law!" She shouts, chasing the beer bottle as it rolls towards the lake.

Lucy watches in amusement as Cana begins singing at the top of her lungs and making snow angels in the grass.

Levy only shakes her head in disappointment.

"Honestly, can we have _one_ normal hangout?"

The blonde can't help but laugh.

"You guys are all really weird." She says and then smirks," I like it."

And the three break out into laughter.

"Hey, since Erza will probably end up scolding Cana for like an hour for littering, you girls want to head over to the fire?" She asks, her eyes giddy.

Lisanna and Lucy nod in unison and stand up leaving Cana to her singing and snow angel making.

"Guys, I'm going to go grab some marshmallows. I'll be back in a second." Levy announces, walking over to the large table filled with bags of marshmallows.

Lucy nudges Lisanna's shoulder.

"Hey, go up and talk to Natsu. He's alone right now just staring at the fire." Her eyes scan around for any signs of the other boys and she spots Gajeel holding Gray as he does a keg stand. Jellal just watches them with a look of disapproval.

"Are you sure?" Lisanna asks.

"Of course! Ask him to roast a marshmallow for you. Trust me you don't even know how happy you'll make him. He loves this stuff." Lucy says, trying to give her the best advice she can.

Lisanna looks at Lucy with a grateful look.

"Okay, thank you Lucy. You're a great friend." She says happily, turning on her heel and she walks over to Natsu.

Lucy watches as she approaches Natsu timidly. She pokes his shoulder and of course Natsu being Natsu, smiles brightly at her.

The blonde smiles at the scene with satisfaction.

"Go get him Lisanna." She encourages her friend from the sidelines.

"Lu, I got some marshmallows." Levy announces, skipping over to the blonde.

"Where's Lisanna?" She asks, looking around.

Lucy points her finger to where her and Natsu are now walking over to the lake, laughing.

Levy's mouth drops open.

"Did you have something to do with this?" Levy asks, her eyes raised in suspicion.

Lucy smiles sweetly and grabs a marshmallow and pops it in her mouth.

"I don't even know what you're talking about." She walks past Levy and heads over to the fire.

"Lu, you little matchmaker!" Levy smirks, rushing to her side and bumping her shoulder.

The two laugh.

"Levy, I'm going to try and do one of those!" The blonde says excitedly, pointing over to where the boys are doing keg stands and people are popping open beer bottles.

Lucy wonders just how the campus got away with allowing everyone to drink beer.

She approaches the group of keg standers.

"Lucy, over here!" A masculine voice yells and Lucy looks over to see Gray, shirtless might she add, rushing over to her with a red solo cup in his hand.

"What happened to your shirt?" She asks, giggling as he flushes and looks around hastily.

"Shoot, not again." He says, scratching the back of his neck sheepishly.

Lucy takes a moment to let her eyes travel down Gray's handsome face and onto his toned chest. She was shocked that he was so fit. Not only was he handsome but also he had an amazing body.

"Checking me out?" He teases and Lucy's cheeks immediately turn rosy. Her eyes avert from his chest onto the grass.

"Y-You asked for it." She stammers, embarrassed.

Gray only laughs, flicking her forehead.

"Come on, you want to try a keg stand?" He proposes, chugging the contents of his drink before tossing it in a trash bin as they walk over to a keg.

Lucy's eyes brighten.

"Hell yeah I want to try this!" She says excitedly, placing her hands on the sides of the keg.

"Just kick up and I'll hold you in place. Give it a try." Gray says, his hands ready to hold her.

Lucy nods, determination setting in her eyes.

She kicks her legs upwards and in seconds is doing a handstand on top of the keg.

"I did it!" She laughs, and Gray grabs a hold of her thigh and lower back to keep her in place.

The contact causes Lucy's skin to tingle and her cheeks to heat. She was glad it was dark so Gray couldn't see.

"I'm going to let the alcohol pour out so put your mouth on the faucet part." He instructs her, turning it until the alcohol is pouring on the grass.

Lucy quickly puts her mouth on it and lets the sweet beer fill her mouth. It's carbonated and tastes a little cheap, but Lucy dismisses the taste and enjoys the cool touch of Gray's hand on her lower back. Since her shirt had ridden up his hand was directly on her bare skin giving her all sorts of goose bumps and jolting feelings.

After a good thirty seconds the blonde takes her mouth off of the keg and looks behind at Gray.

"That was awesome." She says as he helps her down.

Gray laughs.

"You're a natural, you sure you haven't done this before?" He questions, raising a brow teasingly.

"What am I not good at?" She jokes and Gray nods in understanding, playing along.

"Want to go meet up with the group? I think everyone's by the blankets." Lucy suggest and Gray nods in return.

They begin to walk back towards the lake.

"So, you and Natsu are best friends?" Gray asks curiously.

Lucy nods.

"We grew up together. Our parents are best friends so he's like a brother." Lucy says, remembering how they were also neighbors and every morning she'd have to go over and drag his lazy butt out of bed.

One time she actually had to grab his ankle and drag him down the stairs. It was miserable for the both of them.

But, they'd spend holidays together and having someone at school you basically treated like family was an advantage. Minus their constant bickering and people mistaking them for a couple, Lucy liked having Natsu around.

Though, she'd never admit that to anyone.

"Why do you ask?" Lucy asks, turning to Gray who averts his charcoal eyes from her gaze and looks forward.

"No reason, just curious is all." He responds quickly, his cheeks turning a little pink.

Lucy raises a brow but dismisses it. Maybe Natsu said something about her? Hopefully it wasn't an embarrassing story….

"Lucy, nice keg stand!" Cana says as the two approach the group.

Lucy smiles.

"Thanks Cana, are you feeling alright?" She asks the brunette while taking a seat across from her on the large blanket.

Cana nods.

"Are you kidding? I feel amazing." She slurs, wrapping an arm around Lucy's shoulders and bringing her in for a hug while laughing like a drunk.

Lucy awkwardly laughs and looks over at Levy, who's smushed between Cana and Gajeel.

"Help." Lucy mouths to her and Levy only laughs.

Gajeel, who is over a head taller than Levy, rests his arm on the top of her head.

"Gajeel for the hundredth time stop that!" She pouts, puffing her cheeks as Gajeel snickers.

But, she doesn't do anything to stop him.

Lucy giggles.

The two were cute.

She looks around, spotting Erza and Jellal holding hands and walking around, Cana was currently lying on her back with a bottle in her mouth, Gray was playing with a strand of grass beside the blonde, and Natsu and Lisanna were nowhere in sight.

She wondered how it was going between the two.

"Hey Lucy, where's flame brain and Lisanna?" Gray asks the blonde who shrugs in return.

"I saw them earlier but I have no idea where they went." She says to him, and Gray nods.

The group engages in a conversation.

.

.

.

The rest of the night went smoothly as the group gossiped and told stories until the stars were shining so bright that Lucy had to zone out from the conversation and lay down on her back to watch the shimmering gems in the sky.

Natsu and Lisanna still hadn't returned so Lucy took it that things were going well between the two.

Looking at the stars she feels herself drift away from the conversation completely.

They were brighter than how they looked back at home and Lucy was absolutely mesmerized.

She feels someone lay down next to her, their shoulders touching.

"Stargazing?" Gray asks, looking over at her.

Lucy nods, looking over at him and noticing that his hair is messy and his eyes are warm as he looks at her.

He looked cute.

"Natsu and I used to do this a lot as kids. But, he got bored of it going into high school so I was forced to lay out in my backyard all alone. You know how scary that was? I mean bugs are one thing but coyotes howling in the woods was something that freaked me out way too much." She shudders at the memories of her practically screeching when a coyote started howling and Natsu running out of his house with a frying pan.

"What do you like about the stars so much?" Gray asks her, his eyes turning up to look at the night sky.

Lucy knits her brows in thought as she looks at him.

"Well," She begins, finding the right words," My mom had always taught me about the constellations and she'd always stargaze with me, pointing to the different stars and how they'd all form an image. I found it fascinating. So, whenever I look at the stars I always think of her and she always thinks of me. It's silly, but it brings me comfort." Lucy confesses, her eyes shining with gentle tears as she thinks of her mother.

She didn't realize that she missed her mother until just this moment.

Gray remains silent and Lucy feels her insides churn.

Did she tell him too much? The two barely knew each other and yet she landed something so personal on him.

Lucy wonders feeling anxious, but when warm fingers brush against her hand she feels a jolt fly through her body.

She opens up her palm and lets him take her hand. He intertwines their fingers and gives her a soft squeeze, his own way of comforting her without the use of words.

Lucy smiles as she sees a shooting star, remembering a memory from when she was a child.

 _"Luce, what's that?"_

 _"A shooting star you idiot."_

.

.

.

"Okay where in the actual hell is Natsu?" Lucy asks herself as she walks around the campus looking for any signs of him.

She had said goodbye to the group twenty minutes ago, although Gray insisted he'd help her find the pink haired moron, but she politely refused.

She didn't want to have him witness her beating him up to a pulp and dragging his butt back home.

Now, tired and hungry, Lucy throws her arms in the air and gives up.

She had called his cell over fifty times and screamed his name until her throat became sore.

Coming to the conclusion that he'd either been abducted by aliens or ruthlessly murdered, Lucy heads home.

Approaching her apartment, she decides to hit one last location off the list before heading home. Crossing the street, she walks up a flight of stairs towards Natsu's apartment.

His apartment door was open a little and a dim light was flowing out of the room. Raising a brow, Lucy comes closer and hears voices.

"Come on Natsu, for me." Lucy recognizes the voice as Lisanna's and her breathing hitches. So, the two had ditched the bonfire and headed to Natsu's apartment.

Lucy presses her body against the corridor wall and eavesdrops on their conversation.

"What do you want me to do?" Natsu asks, his voice laced with confusion.

She hears Lisanna laugh.

"You know what I want you to do." She says seductively, and Lucy almost vomits.

 _Are they going to do the do?!_ Lucy practically screams in her head, her overprotective mode switching on.

No way, Natsu wasn't that stupid to do something like that with a girl he wasn't even dating.

Or was he?

Feeling her heart beating a mile a minute she flings the door wide open without giving it a second thought.

What she sees causes her eyes to widen.

"Luce?" Natsu says, his head set on his head as he holds a controller in his hand. Lisanna is sitting beside him on the couch, also holding the controller.

"Oh my gosh." Lucy whispers to herself feeling like an idiot.

The two were fighting over the controller and Lisanna was trying to act seductive to try and convince him to give it to her.

"Lucy, what are you doing here?" Lisanna asks, giving her friend a confused and slightly annoyed look.

"Oh you know," She says trying to cover up how freaking awkward she feels and she leans against the doorframe, "Just checking to see where you guys were. You disappeared for the whole night!"

"Well, we got bored of walking around and I told Lisanna I beat Gray in mortal combat the other day so she wanted to play me since I guess she's pretty good too." Natsu says simply.

Lucy sighs.

"And you couldn't pick up your phone?" She asks him, her voice tired, as she's done this hundreds of times before in the past.

Natsu rubs the back of his neck sheepishly.

"It died," Lucy scowls at him,"B-But hey why don't you come play with us? To make up for us disappearing." He says, pointing to the other controller sitting on the coffee table.

Lucy's about to agree, knowing she can't back down from a challenge, but when she looks over at Lisanna and her eyes are practically begging her to leave the two alone….Lucy halts in her words.

"Not tonight Natsu, I'm beat." She says, forcing a yawn.

Natsu frowns and Lisanna sends Lucy a thankful look.

"Whatever, we don't need you to have fun." He teases, and Lucy sticks her tongue out at him.

Leaving the apartment and shutting the door behind her, the blonde's eyes widen.

Was Lisanna…staying the night?

For some reason, instead of feeling happy for the two of them she feels...she feels her heart sink a little.

 _What? Why am I sad?!_

Lucy slaps her cheeks, snapping herself out of her sadness.

Natsu and her were best friends. That wouldn't change if a girl was in his life.

Would it?


	5. Chapter 4: Spooked

**a / n:**

 _HEY!_

 _A little halloween themed chapter just since it's October in a few days and yes I'm a LITTLE excited. Okay?_

 _I like this chapter and it shows everyone's personality well!_

 _Please don't kill me because of what I'm doing with this story._

 _But seriously, I like where it's all going._

 _So I hope you do too!_

 _Leave a review and let me know what you think! :D_

 _XOXO_

* * *

"A Haunted House?" Lucy asks curiously, her brow raised at Levy who's walking happily beside her as they walk towards the campus Starbucks.

October had rolled in nicely with the leaves all changing colors and the cold weather sucking up all of the heat of summer.

"Don't tell me you're scared?" Levy teases and Lucy rolls her eyes.

Okay, she was scared but she would rather die than let Levy hold that against her.

"Pfft me? Scared? Never." She says, pulling the door open to the café and walking in.

Levy snickers at Lucy's weak lie.

They find a table near the window and set their stuff down and head over to order two coffees and some scones.

Once done, they head back to their seats and pull out their homework.

"So, this haunted house when do you want to do it?" Lucy asks, breaking their focused atmosphere.

Levy lifts a finger to say, "hold on a sec" as she digs around in her backpack. She pulls out a crumpled up flyer and sticks it out so that Lucy can see it.

"This Saturday and it's not only a Haunted House," She wiggles her brows and gives Lucy a mischievous look.

The blonde gulps.

"It's a race!"

Lucy tilts her head.

"A race? Through the Haunted House?" She asks, taking a sip of her warm coffee.

Levy nods.

"Yes! And I thought maybe we could split up and do teams. It'd make it more exciting!" Levy says excitedly.

Lucy, feeling her more competitive side come on, smiles devilishly.

"Levy, I say we become team captains and compete against each other." She says, a glint of mischief in her chocolate eyes.

Levy returns the same look.

"Oh, you're _on._ "

.

.

.

"What do you mean you won't be on my team?!" Lucy whines, glaring at the rosette from her position on his couch.

It was currently 7pm and Lucy had invited herself over to play a round of mortal combat and try to convince him to be on her team for the Haunted House race.

Things weren't necessarily going as planned.

Natsu grabs the popcorn bowl from the kitchen and takes a seat next to her. He places both feet on the kitchen table and grabs his controller, resuming their game.

"Levy already asked me to be on her team." He shrugs, knocking a good punch to her player's gut.

Lucy scowls at the TV countering with a blast from her player's hands.

"You're my best friend, you're automatically on my team you idiot." She says, grabbing some popcorn and popping it into her mouth.

Natsu, with his brows knitted at the screen and a snippet of his tongue out in concentration, KO's the blonde's player.

"Luce, you really do suck at this game." He laughs, earning a popcorn kernel to the face.

"Not as much as you, I can't believe you're not on my team!" She pouts, clicking the rematch button.

Natsu rolls his eyes.

"Come on Luce, I've been on your team since we were in diapers. We're in college now that stuff doesn't matter." He says, his focus face back on as the game begins.

Lucy feels her mind numb at his words.

He was totally right. They weren't kids anymore.

She takes her eyes off of the game and looks over at the rosette with shocked eyes.

Natsu didn't need to rely on her anymore. He didn't need her quick intellect to win at board games or help him with tests, he didn't need her motherly instincts anymore to cook for him or pester him about doing his homework, and he just didn't need her anymore like he used to.

But, just a month ago they had been so close. She'd always crash at his place and things would be just like they were when they both were in high school.

Recently, she'd barely seen him. Perhaps it was because of their busy schedules…but still they'd always managed to make time for each other before.

What changed?

Lucy's eyes widen even more and her legs turn numb.

" _I like…Natsu."_

" _She's a good friend."_

The voices of Lisanna and Natsu echo through her mind.

Was it because Natsu was starting to have feelings for Lisanna?

Feeling her heart slowly sink at the thought, Lucy suddenly felt sick.

"Beat you again!" Natsu says victoriously, his eyes turning towards Lucy.

Once their eyes meet, Natsu's wide grin vanishes.

"Luce?" He asks, his eyes glazed with confusion as she'd been staring at him for the whole game.

Lucy shakes her head, blinking away the thoughts.

"What?" She asks, trying not to give away her slight change in mood.

If Natsu and Lisanna actually begin liking each other she can't get in between. Why was she even feeling sad? Natsu was her best friend, there's no way that idiot would survive a day without her.

At least, that's what she told herself.

Natsu stares at her long and hard before shaking his head.

"You're so weird." He says, a smile on his lips.

Lucy punches his shoulder playfully.

"Still can't believe you're actually asking to lose by being on Levy's team." She teases.

Natsu snorts.

"You're so butthurt."

"Am not!"

"Are too! Besides, why don't you just ask Gray to be on your team?" He asks, the question coming out of nowhere.

She watches as he clicks the controller a little harder than usual.

"Natsu, don't tell me you're jealous of Gray?" She teases, wiggling her brows.

Natsu practically breaks the A button as he smashes it with his thumb.

"Jealous of that ice princess? In his dreams." He says coolly, smashing the B button.

Lucy laughs.

"Suuuuuuuuuuure Natsu."

He KO's her player.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"

.

.

.

It was a pretty spooky Saturday evening. It was around 7, when the sun was just about kissing the horizon, and the moon was already visible in the orangey purple sky.

Lucy had decided to wear a navy blue hoodie and leggings with brown ugg boots. Fashion over comfort was what she told herself.

She was currently making her way to the Haunted House, by herself might she add, to meet up with her group.

Over the course of the week she managed to get Erza, Gray, and Jellal on her side whereas Levy ganged up with Gajeel, Natsu, and Lisanna.

She wondered just what would come out of this night.

Shivering because of the breeze, the blonde approaches the large black and very creepy gate that leads down a creepy dirt path to the large and abandoned house that was supposedly haunted and used for the Halloween attraction.

A sign that was hanging sideways and looked very old and creepy read:

 **Haunted House up ahead.**

She swallows hard and pushes the gate open. It creeks so loudly that Lucy feels her insides flip and her skin burst with goose bumps.

"I can't do this." She whispers to herself, her whole face paling with fright.

She begins to walk down the dirt path, with great caution.

Halfway down the path she hears something rustle in the bushes and immediately feels her face pale and her heart race.

Was some serial killer going to attack her? Was she going to die here without anyone knowing?

Quickening her pace, she proceeds to walk down the path.

She needed to meet up with her group as soon as possible.

Another rustle in the bushes causes her to flinch in fright. Her heart now was beating rapidly.

 _I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm going to die._

She repeats in her head as she now runs through the path with the creepy branches and the bright full moon hung over head, as the sun is now just barely visible.

Finally, after a few minutes of running, she hears the familiar voices of her friends and feels a large smile erupt on her features.

She was going to make it out alive!

Slowing down so that she doesn't look like an idiot, the blonde approaches the exit of the forest path and is about to call out to her friends when…

"BOO!"

The blonde screams so loud that she has no doubt in her mind that someone from China had heard her.

She stumbles backwards and falls on her butt, getting her leggings covered in dirt.

She peeps her eyes open and sees a rose haired male standing before her, laughing his butt off.

"Hahahaha, oh my gosh," He bends over, laughing hysterically," You're face, gosh that was priceless." He points a finger at her paled face and burst out laughing all over again.

Lucy feels her cheeks heat up with embarrassment as the rest of the group rushes over. She stands up, and brushes the dirt off of her legs.

"What happened?" Levy asks, watching with confused eyes as Natsu laughs like a maniac and Lucy's eyes are glistening with unshed tears.

"You should've seen it Levy-" Natsu begins, but Lucy intervenes.

"Nothing." She snaps, blinking away her tears of fright and giving Natsu the coldest glare known to man.

Natsu sticks his tongue out at her.

"It wasn't even that scary!" He laughs.

Lucy shakes her head.

"S-Shut up." She retorts, her voice wavering.

"I'm sure Natsu didn't mean it to scare you that bad Lucy." Lisanna voices, looking over at Natsu who nods.

"Yeah, it was just a joke Luce." He says, his laughter calming down.

Lisanna's eyes brighten as Natsu acknowledges her.

Lucy feels her blood boil.

Natsu knew down to a science just how easily frightened Lucy could be. He knew that every Halloween she'd never go into the Haunted House unless she had a group of people with her. He knew that targeting her while she was alone was one of her biggest fears.

How could he just do that to her and embarrass her in front of everyone?

With anger blinding her decisions, she walks over to him and slaps him right across the face.

He stumbles a little at the force of her blow, and looks back at her with widened eyes.

"What the hell was that for?" He asks angrily.

"Oh, it's just a joke Natsu!" She mocks sweetly, turning around and walking over to the group.

Natsu stares at her back with widened eyes.

Gray raises his hand and Lucy gives him a high five.

"Now that was bad A." He says, and Lucy smirks.

The group begins walking back towards the Haunted House, splitting up.

"He deserved it." She says, shrugging her shoulders.

Gray nods.

"Are you sure you're going to be okay doing this?" He asks her quietly, making sure that the rest of the group doesn't hear.

Lucy nods.

"I have to, I don't want to lose to him." She says, determination in her eyes.

"You don't have to prove anything to him you know that." Gray says as they wait in line to pay.

Lucy shrugs.

"Maybe not."

.

.

.

"Okay team, we're going to win this thing!" Erza yells loudly, her eyes ablaze with the heat of the competition.

Jellal gulps beside Lucy and Gray.

"She's way too into this." He mutters under his breath.

"What was that?" She peers at Jellal.

The blue haired male jumps at her voice.

"N-Nothing, come on they're going to blow the whistle soon." He says to the redhead.

Lucy looks at the entrance of the house.

It was a large wooden door that was slightly opened and fog was pouring out of the house like a waterfall. It looked like something from within in her worst nightmare.

She swallows hard.

"I'm right behind you." Gray whispers to her, his breath warm on her ear causing jolts to shoot all the way down to her toes.

Lucy feels her cheeks heat.

"Thanks." She responds, and he nods a smile on his lips.

"3,2,1" Everyone bends and gets ready to sprint.

With shaky feet Lucy swallows hard and gets ready.

"GO!"

And off she runs, using all of her force to get in front.

Erza pushes down the door with sheer body power, surprising Lucy immensely, and in everyone goes.

The minute she enters it's pitch black, and the fog causes the skin on her legs to feel weird and moist. She feels everyone whiz past her and she's almost knocked to the ground.

"AHHH!" A voice yells, which sounds much like Lisanna's, and Lucy flinches.

She looks around and notices that she has no idea where to go. It's dark and she can just barely make out the small arrows on the walls that are painted to look like blood. She shivers.

"Gray?" She finds herself saying as she stands in place, her feet frozen with fear.

Why did she agree to this?

"Right here." He says next to her, and she feels a shoulder brush against her arm.

Just the sound of his voice causes her to relax immediately.

At least she wasn't lost alone.

"I can't see anything." She says, beginning to make small steps forward as the sound of more screams fills the halls of the house.

"Just listen to Natsu's girly scream and we'll make it out of here." He jokes, lifting Lucy's spirits a little.

The two walk side by side, their shoulder brushing each other's with every step.

They reach the end of the hall and all of a sudden the lights flicker, revealing a fake dead body covered with blood lying at the end of the hall. An arrow shows them to take a left.

Lucy screams, jumping out of her skin at the sight of the bloody body.

She accidentally jumps into Gray, he laughs wrapping an arm around her shivering frame.

"Lucy, it's fake." He says, biting back his laughter.

The blonde swallows hard, forcing herself off of his safe embrace.

"I-I know that." She replies shakily, not able to feel her legs.

"N-NATSU I SWEAR IF YOU PUT THAT BLOOD IN MY HAIR I'LL- NATSU!" Levy screams from somewhere within the house and Lucy can't help but snicker.

Typical Natsu to take advantage of the situation and harass everyone.

Gray rolls his eyes.

"That idiot," He says and Lucy laughs.

"He's never been scared of anything, he used to drag me to these things every October. But, I'd always wait for him at the other end." She says, as the two begin walking.

"This is your first time?" Gray asks.

Lucy nods.

"Y-Yeah." She says shyly.

Gray's about to answer when Lucy feels a tug on her arm and she's jerked to the side roughly. She screams and hears a door shut as she falls on her butt.

"Lucy!" Gray yells but it becomes distant and soon enough Lucy can't hear him.

The blonde, who is now in some kind of a dark room, feels her insides burning with fear. Her teeth are chattering and she feels herself growing faint.

 _Why me?_

She wonders as she hugs her knees to her chest.

 _Tap._

The blonde listens as footsteps are heard approaching her from behind. She slides back, hoping to get as far away as possible until her back hits a wall and she's basically dead meat.

Lucy feels her heart hammering against her rib cage and tears prick the corner's of her eyes.

She was going to die.

The footsteps only grow louder and so does the pounding of Lucy's heart.

The breathing of the other person becomes heavier, as if they're wearing a mask of some sorts, which only creeps Lucy out more.

"G-Gray, hey this isn't funny." She says shakily, her voice cracking as she's on the verge of tears.

No response.

Lucy now makes out the figure, seeing as they're practically hovering over her.

She notices that they have something in their hand, and when they turn their hand she notices it glistens.

A knife.

"HELP SOMEONE HELP!" She yells, tears now running down the sides of her face.

A hand clamps over her mouth, but she continues screaming although it sounds muffled.

The lights flicker on.

She screams even louder as she's met with a clown mask.

One of her many fears.

"Stop screaming, it's just me." A familiar voice says, laughter filling the room.

The person peels off the mask and tosses it to the side, along with the knife, which she notices is fake.

Her teary eyes widen with shock.

He removes his hand from her mouth.

"N-Natsu." She whimpers, relieved that it isn't a killer.

She'd never felt so relieved in her whole entire life. Forgetting to be angry because she's overjoyed that she actually isn't going to be murdered in a dark room of some stupid haunted house, she shakily wraps her arms around his neck and pulls him into a killer embrace.

"I-I thought I-I was g-going to d-die." She cries into his chest, not even caring that she's acting so vulnerable and like a child.

Natsu's eyes widen at her response.

He had no idea that she was _this_ scared.

Natsu knew that she had a fear, but he did not expect it to be this bad.

"It's just me Luce," He says quietly, wrapping his arms around her fragile form.

"I was just trying to pull a joke, geez I didn't know you were this scared." He says lightheartedly, feeling immensely guilty for scaring her.

Was she this scared before when he jumped her earlier?

"O-Of course I'm scared, this is my biggest fear you know that." She says into his chest, her sobs diminishing but her shoulders still trembling.

She felt so stupid for crying into his chest, but it made her feel so safe she didn't even care if his shirt was going to be wet.

It's not like she hasn't done this before.

"You're such a handful." He complains, though he rests his chin on her forehead and pulls her in closer, rubbing circles into her back with his thumb.

They stay like that for quite a while until Lucy finally calms down and her breathing becomes even again.

"Come on, let's get out of here." Natsu says, taking her hand as they both stand.

"But, what about the race?" She asks.

Natsu laughs.

"Lucy, it's been thirty minutes I'm pretty sure everyone's already waiting for us outside." He says, pulling her towards the exit.

A few screams and lots of hand squeezing later, the two exit the haunted house where the rest of the group is sitting and waiting.

"LU YOU'RE OKAY!" Levy is the first one to yell, racing up and tackling the blonde.

Lucy stumbles back, letting go of Natsu's warm hand, and hugging her friend back.

"Y-Yeah I'm fine." She replies.

Erza and Lisanna race up and join the hug, squeezing Lucy so hard that she's afraid she might actually die this time.

"What the hell happened in there?" Gray asks Natsu, his eyes beaded with worry as he looks at Lucy being squeezed to death by her friends.

Natsu shrugs.

"She got lost and I helped her get out." He says nonchalantly.

Gray nods.

"Yeah, we got separated. Thanks man." He says to Natsu, patting his shoulder in thanks before running up to Lucy.

Natsu watches as Lucy gives him a high five and they engage in a conversation.

"Sorry I couldn't help you out in there." Gray says, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

"No, it's fine I actually had a little fun." She lies, not to damper his mood.

He nods.

"Who won?" Gajeel yells loudly, resting his arm on top of Levy's head.

Levy rolls her eyes at his gesture but ignores it.

"I guess it's a tie since both Natsu and Lucy came out of the Haunted House at the same time." Levy says.

"So what now?" Jellal asks.

The group falls into silence.

"Anyone wanna go get some pancakes?" Lisanna asks.

The group cheers and Natsu and Gray begin screaming out how many pancakes they're both going to eat and who will eat the most.

Lucy laughs at their antics.

.

.

.

A full stomach and getting kicked out of the pancake place, Lucy was on her way home with her rose haired friend.

"I'm going to puke." Natsu says, holding his stomach and groaning dramatically.

Lucy rolls her eyes.

"No one told you to eat twenty pancakes."

"I had to beat Gray."

"Not my problem." She shrugs.

They walk the rest of the way in silence until they reach her apartment.

"I'm exhausted." Lucy says, stretching her arms over her head.

Natsu nods.

"Listen, I'm sorry about tonight. I didn't mean to make you cry." He apologizes.

"I-It's fine." She stammers, feeling embarrassed all over again.

Wait.

Why was she feeling embarrassed?

It was _Natsu._

Natsu nods.

A small silence creeps it's way between them.

"Natsu, want to maybe stay over tonight?" Lucy asks casually.

She was still slightly creeped out over the events of the day and didn't want to be home alone. And besides, they hadn't had a sleepover in a while.

Natsu shakes his head.

"Sorry Luce, I can't tonight Lisanna's coming over." He says, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

Lucy's eyes widen at his response.

"O-Oh, no I get it." She says, feeling stupid.

"But, next time I promise!"

Lucy shakes her head.

"No, its okay I don't want to get in between you two." She says, biting her lip.

"What do you mean?" He asks.

Lucy sighs.

"You're so dense."

"Am not."

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"Ugh, just go Natsu she's waiting for you." Lucy says, as she points across the street to where Lisanna is waving.

"Right, night Luce!" He waves as he races across the street.

Lucy watches the two walk into the apartment together, a heavy feeling in her heart.

"At least he's happy."


	6. Chapter 5: Ow

**a / n**

 _Annnnd here is the rewritten version of Chapter 5!_

 _Personally I like this version WAY better and it's much more of what I want. (Makes sense? of course not.) xD_

 _AND HOLY CANOLIE GUYS THANK YOU FOR 50+ FOLLOWS! YOUR SUPPORT MEANS SO MUCH!_

 _I hope you all enjoy this chapter and please feel free to leave a review letting me know what you think!_

 _XOXO_

* * *

It was just a casual Monday afternoon and Lucy was walking out of class. She had just written an exam that had her studying all night the night before, so she was exhausted beyond belief. Her eyes were practically closing as she forced her legs to move.

"Lucy!" A voice calls out behind her.

The blonde sighs, not wanting to engage in a conversation with anyone. But, because she's polite she turns around.

"Oh Gray, hi." She says, rather surprised to see him. He usually had a class during this time.

"You look tired." He says, noticing the bags under her eyes and the way her hair was just thrown up into a messy bun that looks like she'd slept on the night before. Which she had.

The blonde yawns.

"Barely got any sleep last night." She says before squinting her eyes at him, " Are you skipping class?" She probes him.

Gray laughs sheepishly.

"Maybe, but hey it's some art elective. Doesn't even matter."

Lucy rolls her eyes. That "art elective" is actually a high-level math class, but hey she wasn't going to force him to go. If he wanted to fail, he could fail.

"Mhm, so why are you skipping it?" She asks.

Gray wasn't necessarily a grade A student, but he didn't seem like the type of guy to just skip out on a class because he didn't feel like going. Unlike Natsu, who would skip because he found out a new ice cream joint opened up or something stupid like that.

Speaking of Natsu, she hadn't talked to him at all during the weekend. A part of her wondered what he had been up to, but another part was too tired to even care.

"Lucy? You still awake?" Gray's voice snaps her out of her thoughts and she jolts.

"Ah, sorry I'm really tired." She laughs, embarrassed that she had zoned out on him, " What were you saying?"

Gray shakes his head snickering.

He opens his mouth to answer when an arm slings over the blonde's shoulder and she stumbles forward from the unexpected impact.

"Luceeeeeee!" An all too familiar voice yells into her ear.

Lucy practically clobbers him since he almost made her fall face first onto the tiled floor of the school and her ear was ringing with his stupid voice.

"Natsu I swear if I fell I would've-"

"Ice Princess what are you doing here?!" He yells, ignoring Lucy.

"Please don't fight." Lucy mumbles under her breath, knowing that her growing headache will only get worse if the two start yelling and beating the crap out of each other for no reason.

But, too late.

Natsu unslings his arm from her shoulder and glares at his rival.

"It's pretty obvious what I'm doing you Ash for brains." Gray retorts, head butting the rosette.

"Annoying Luce, that's what you're doing. Who even wants to _listen_ to you speak?" He taunts, rolling up his sleeve.

"I'd say we were having a pretty decent conversation until you ruined it Flame brain." He argues, rolling up a sleeve of his own.

Lucy takes a deep breath.

Why did they have to be fighting over her? She just wanted to sleep.

Her brain was too tired to think anything of either of their words. She felt her vision go blurry as sleep was taking over her.

"I'LL BEAT YOU UP." Natsu yells.

"LIKE A FLAMEHEADED MORON COULD EVER DO THAT."

"OH YEAH?"

"YEAH."

They're about to engage in a full out fist fight when a thud to the floor causes the boys to halt in their antics.

"Lu…cy?" Gray is the first to speak, noticing that the blonde is on the floor and her chocolate eyes are closed shut.

Natsu turns around, his flaming eyes turning worried.

"OH MY GOSH LUCY." He yells, rushing over to her and bending down to feel her forehead.

"Gray what happened is she okay?!" He freaks out, his eyes bouncing all over the place with worry as if he's looking for help.

Gray nods, trying to keep his cool as he also is internally freaking out.

"She'll be fine, I think she's just exhausted. Told me she stayed up all night the night before to study for an exam." He says calmly, although his heart was racing from worry.

Natsu nods, swallowing thickly.

"I'll take her to the nurses office." He says, but Gray stops him.

"You have a class to get to, don't worry I'll take her." He suggests but Natsu shakes his head.

"No," He says sternly, and Gray's eyes widen at the possessiveness in his voice.

"I won't be able to concentrate in class anyways until I know she's okay." He seems to say aloud, but Gray was pretty sure that he wasn't supposed to hear that part.

He nods, knowing that arguing with the rosette was pointless and the sooner he got Lucy down to the nurse the sooner he'd know she'd be okay.

"Fine, but let me know how she's doing when she wakes." He says, worry evident in his dark eyes.

Natsu nods.

"Sure."

Gray glances one last time at Lucy's face, mentally praying that she didn't hit her head badly or anything, before turning around and heading to class.

But, before he gets too far Natsu calls out his name.

"Gray."

He looks over his shoulder at the rosette, who already has the blonde in his arms bridal style.

"You care a lot about her, don't you?"

Gray's eyes widen at his sudden remark. He swallows hard, nodding.

"Yeah, I do."

Natsu nods, his brows knitting together.

He doesn't respond but instead turns around with the blonde in his arms and heads to the nurses office.

Gray stands in the hallways, puzzled by the rosette's words.

That is until the bell rings and he races to class, knowing that Erza will surely beat him to a pulp for being late.

.

.

.

The sound of feet shuffling on a tiled floor cause the blonde' senses to come back and her chocolate eyes to flutter open.

She's met with the sight of a white washed ceiling and confusion washes over her.

"Where…am I?" She says softly, trying to sit up.

But, once she's halfway up a sudden pang in her head causes her to groan loudly and lay back down.

"H-Hey are you okay?" A voice says with immense worry.

Lucy looks over to her right to see Natsu seated on a little stool next to her. His usually goofy grin is turned into a straight and tense worried line, and his bright eyes are filled with a sea of nervousness and to her surprise care.

"Na-tsu?" She says his name slowly, wondering why he's here, why she's in the nurses office, and what's going on.

He smiles warmly, a smile she rarely sees on him. He only smiles this way when he's genuinely relieved or when he's trying to comfort someone.

"You had me worried sick don't do that again you weirdo." He says, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly.

Lucy nods.

Was there a blush on his cheeks or was she just delusional from her lack of sleep?

"What time is it?" She asks him, feeling completely disoriented.

"Only 3, you slept for an hour." He says.

Lucy nods. It's a good thing she didn't have any classes that she missed.

Wait…

"NATSU DID YOU SKIP CLASS?!" She yells, immediately forgetting her headache as she shoots up in a sitting position and glares at him.

The rosette laughs sheepishly, an anime drop of sweat falling on the side of his head.

"No…" He lies.

Lucy is about to go on a full out reprimand when her body reminds her that she hit her head and she has a throbbing headache.

"Owww," She says in pain, grabbing her head with her palms and pushing against her head to try and relieve the pain.

"Luce, hey lay back down." Natsu says softly, his hand on her back as he lays helps her lay back down.

Lucy does so, her head still throbbing as she lays her head on the pillow.

"The nurse gave you some medication, but maybe I should go grab some more. Do you need a wet cloth or anything on your head? Maybe you're hungry. I can go and grab some fruits or something." He starts blabbing and Lucy knows that when he gets like this the best thing to do is cut him off.

"Natsu, I'm fine. You should go back to class." She says, giggling at how worried he was getting.

It was cute.

Did she just think that?

"Nah, all my classes ended anyways for the day. Besides if I leave who'll play with all of the nurses equipment?" He points to the stethoscope around his neck.

"Natsu! Put that back." She says, but when he puts the ear buds in his ears and brings the round metal part to her chest to listen to her heartbeat, her throat goes dry.

"Hmm, now let me listen to your heartbeat." He says in some kind of a sophisticated accent.

"Doctor's don't talk like that." She teases, trying to ignore how close their faces are.

Why did she have to notice that? It was just Natsu.

But, she couldn't help but notice how prominent his cheekbones were, the way his eyes were filled with such gentle care and a hint of mischief, the way his pink (although he'd always yell it's salmon) colored hair was a little flat because he must have fallen asleep waiting for her to wake up.

"Woah Luce you're heart is beating like it's running a marathon." He laughs, but Lucy feels her whole entire face redden.

"Am I making you nervous?" He smirks, his eyes turning to look at hers.

Lucy smacks him right on the head.

"OW! Are you trying to give me a headache now?!" He says, rubbing the top of his head.

"S-Stop acting weird." She stammers, trying to hide her red face underneath the blanket.

"Says the weirdo herself." He teases.

"I am not weird!"

"Are too!"

"Am not!"

"ARE TOO!"

"AM NO-"

The door to the nurse's room flings open, revealing a disheveled nurse.

"Will you two PLEASE SHUT UP."

The two gulp, squeaking out a "yes m'am."

When the door shuts and she leaves the two fall into a small silence.

"Natsu," Lucy says, earning his attention as he looks over at her.

"Thank you." She says genuinely, a warm and bright smile on her lips.

A blush forms on Natsu's cheeks.

"Weirdo." He blurts out, scratching his cheek and averting his eyes.

Lucy sticks her tongue out at him and is about to tease him when the buzz of a phone echoes in the room.

Natsu fishes around in his pocket before pulling it out.

"Who is it?" Lucy asks.

Natsu looks over at her.

"Lisanna, she's supposed to help me with my lab today." He says, rubbing his temples.

Lucy feels her heart sink, but on the other hand if it's a chance for Natsu and Lisanna to hang out she can't keep him from it. She promised Lisanna that she'd help Natsu fall for her. And she wanted to make her friend happy.

"You should go." Lucy says quietly, her eyes turning sad.

Why was she feeling like this? Shouldn't she be happy?

"No, it's fine I can stay here with you if you need me." He says warmly, but Lucy shakes her head.

"I'm okay Natsu, you should go Lisanna's probably waiting." She insists, although her heart is yelling at her to make him stay.

Natsu licks his lips in thought before nodding.

"Are you sure?" He asks one last time.

 _No._

She wasn't sure at all. She, in all of her selfish thoughts and pleasures, wanted him to stay by her side. To rub her head when it hurt and make corny jokes that could only make her laugh to try and cheer her up. She wanted to talk to him, because lately they hadn't been able to see each other as much as she'd like.

In all honesty, she missed her best friend.

But, she puts her own feelings behind her and nods while forcing a smile on her features.

"Yes, now go you don't keep a girl waiting!" She shoos him off, and he nods.

"I'll visit you later, bye Luce." He smiles, heading out the door.

Once the door closes her smile turns into frown.

"Bye, Natsu." She whispers sadly, closing her tired eyes as the meds kick in.

.

.

.

Her eyes flutter open for the second time that day to the same white washed walls from earlier.

She realizes that it's now evening as the sun is setting and the dark room is turning a hue of orange and red.

She sits up, and stretches her tired and sore arms over her head. Looking over to her right, her chocolate eyes widen at what, or more like _who_ she sees.

There he was, seated in a barf green chair and snoozing away. His rosy hair was spiked up in all different directions and Lucy couldn't help notice that the way the light shined on his face he looked utterly adorable.

"Idiot, I thought I told you to go meet up with Lisanna." She mutters under her breath, but the violent beating inside of her chest and the spreading of warmth in her body made her feel ecstatic.

He had come back for her and actually stayed with her until she woke up.

It's not like he hadn't done this before but for some reason the fact that he didn't go see Lisanna but instead stayed with her made her…it made her happy.

And she kind of hated it.

The blonde stretches her legs before standing and as she takes a step forward she trips on the untied lace of her shoe and falls…

Directly on Natsu.

The rosette, who sleeps like a rock, only groans and opens his eyes ever so slowly completely unfazed that the blonde had just fallen on him.

Lucy as well opens her eyes, as she had closed them while falling and awaiting a cold tiled floor.

"Luce?"

"Natsu…"

They both say as their eyes meet and their noses are practically touching. She's seated in his lap awkwardly, her hands on his shoulders.

Lucy feels her heart hammering against her chest at the proximity of their faces. She can feel her cheeks turning rosy and she's pretty sure her face is going to melt off.

"S-Sorry!" She yelps, realizing the predicament and shoots up and off of him.

He only blinks a couple hundred times, a blush of his own on his cheeks as he registers what had just happened.

He clears his throat awkwardly.

"So uh, what were you doing there?" He asks, the air in the room becoming suddenly a little too warm even for his liking.

Lucy sputters like an idiot.

"I-I fell, tripped over my shoelace and kind of landed on you." She explains, wanting to punch herself in the face for being such an idiot.

Why was she suddenly so nervous around him? She'd fallen on him hundreds of other times.

 _What the hell is going on with me?  
_

She screams inside of her own head.

Then, out of nowhere, Natsu begins laughing. And by laughing Lucy means cracking the hell up.

"What's so funny?" She asks him, feeling slightly uncomfortable and notice as there are legitimate tears welling up in the corners of his eyes.

"Your…Your face." He says in between chuckles.

At this a vein pops on Lucy's forehead.

"Idiot, you don't say that to a girl!" She yells, her cheeks flaring as she takes a step to dramatically walk out of the nurses office, but fate has other plans as she trips over her untied shoelace.

Again.

Although, this time instead of falling onto Natsu, or worst meeting the wretched fate of falling on the floor, the blonde feels an arm wrap around mid section and another around the back of her head. Her face lands in his chest and a familiar scent of fire and warmth fills her nostrils.

Lucy's eyes widen as she realizes Natsu had caught her from falling.

"Seriously Luce, do you want to give yourself a concussion?" He asks her, chuckling softly.

The blonde just stays quiet, relishing the moment.

When was the last time he'd hugged her like this?

"Why'd you come back?" She asks him.

A silence neatly blankets over them before he answers.

"Remember that one time when I had that really bad flu?"

Lucy blinks her eyes in confusion.

"Yeah?" She responds, her head still against his chest.

"I was in the hospital and I remember you coming in the first day I was there. You were crying 'cause you thought I was going to die."

Lucy feels a pang in her heart. She remembered that so clearly. But, she thought he was drugged? How could he possibly remember that? They must've been at least six or seven years old.

Natsu continues.

"You held my hand and promised me that you would stay with me until I was discharged from the hospital. And you did, you kept your promise. Your mom wasn't too happy about you missing school but you cried and cried so much she had no choice."

He chuckles a little and Lucy gently hits him in the chest to stop embarrassing her.

"Anyways, that's why I stayed." He answers.

Lucy stays quiet, absorbing the information before her features fall.

"So you just did it because you felt like you had too?" She says softly, her voice laced with sadness.

She didn't want him doing this because he "owed" her. If that were his intention she'd rather have him be with Lisanna.

Natsu shakes his head; pulling away just enough so that he can get a good look at her face.

"I came back because I care about you, weirdo." He smiles, that goofy and stupid smile of his where you can see all of his shiny teeth.

Lucy feels her heart do somersaults in her chest and her cheeks glow a pink color. He was making her feel an emotion she couldn't describe and although she loved it she didn't understand why Natsu out of all people was making her feel a feeling that was driving her crazy.

Frightened by this heightened emotion, she quickly pulls away the loss of his warm touch leaving her frozen in less than a second.

Natsu blinks confusedly at her sudden movements.

"I-I should get going home." She stammers, not daring to look him in the eyes.

Quickly she rushes past him, ignoring his "I could walk you home" and exits the nurse's office without glancing back.

Once out in the hall she hears the door that leads to the exit of the building slam shut.

And then something dawns upon her.

Someone was listening to their whole entire conversation.

Lucy feels a shiver race down her spine.


	7. Chapter 6: Goldie Locks

**a / n:**

 _Yay, a new chapter! Kind of a boring chapter, but I want to save the juicy stuff for the next chapter._

 _hehehehhehehehe_

 _*gets shot*_

 _Let me know what you think of this chapter!_

 _And thank you very much for all of the support on this story. I really do appreciate it, you are all super stars!_

 _XOXO_

* * *

"Lu!" A high-pitched and far too enthusiastic voice yelled as the blonde entered the library.

She had woken up in the morning with a small headache from the events of the previous day, nothing too serious that she couldn't handle. More like nothing a few Advils couldn't handle.

"Hey Levy." Lucy smiles as she sets her books on the table and takes a seat next to Levy.

"Lucy, I heard you hit your head and blacked out yesterday. Are you okay?!" She asks frantically, her eyes filled with worry as she scans the blonde head to toe as if checking for wounds or something.

Lucy chuckles nervously.

"I'm fine Levy, really I was just sleep deprived." She explains.

The blunette lets out a breath of relief.

"Thank goodness!" She says happily her eyes turning bright.

Lucy nods.

"Wait," She begins, pausing as she was about to open up her notebook and get to work," How did you know I passed out?"

She didn't remember telling anyone.

Levy giggles, and points her finger to the figure entering the library. Lucy looks over and finds raven hair and charcoal eyes.

He smiles and waves as he notices the two and comes over.

"Gray?" She whispers over to Levy, slightly surprised.

She for sure thought it would be Natsu causing a fit.

Levy nods, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"He was freaking out about it, trying to get Natsu to let him see you but he never got the chance." And then lowering her voice she adds," I think he likes you."

The last part causes Lucy to raise her brows.

"Hey Lucy, glad to see you're okay." Gray says happily, a look of relief spreading across his features as he takes a seat across from the two.

Lucy smiles.

"I'm doing great, thank you." She says politely, Levy's words echoing in the back of her mind.

Did he like her?

"Sorry to worry you." She adds sheepishly, giggling a little.

"Don't be, I wasn't too worried." Gray says, a small blush on his cheeks as he stares at the table in embarrassment.

Levy snickers at this.

"'Wasn't too worried' ha! Gray texted the whole group acting like you were dying. Scared the living crap out of all of us!" Levy adds, mentally high fiving herself as Gray's blush turns a darker shade of red.

"I-I was worried okay? She hit her head that can be fatal sometimes!" He stammers, clearly embarrassed.

Lucy only laughs, finding it cute how he becomes so flustered over such a small thing.

"It's fine Levy, I'm glad I have friends that worry about me." She smiles genuinely at Gray, whose blush only darkens.

"Stop looking at me like that!" He sputters childishly, looking anywhere but at Lucy's eyes.

Lucy, feeling slightly amused, leans over the table a little and stares even harder.

"I'm not staring." She says innocently, hearing Levy giggle wildly to herself.

"You're definitely staring weirdo." A voice says behind the blonde and the three look over to stare at said person.

"Natsu! Lisanna!" Levy says happily as she smiles largely, motioning for the two to sit down.

"I'm not weird!" Lucy pouts folding her arms over her chest as Natsu playfully ruffles her golden locks before taking a seat next to the flustered Gray.

Lisanna takes a seat on the far end of the table, next to Natsu and Levy.

Lucy raises a brow at this. Lisanna always sat next to her.

"Ice prick what's with you? You look like a girl." Natsu taunts, noticing the massive blush on his cheeks.

"Who you calling a girl with that pink hair?!" He fires back, immediately losing the rosiness in his cheeks as he squints at the rosette.

A vein pops on Natsu's forehead.

"IT'S SALMON FOR HEAVEN'S SAKE," He shouts, pointing to the salmon (it was pink) colored notebook Lucy had," SEE SAME COLOR."

Gray laughs at his nonsense.

"Nope, definitely pink."

Lucy nods.

"Natsu, this is a hot pink notebook…"

Natsu looks back and forth from the notebook to Lucy, his face completely lost.

"THIS ICE DICK IS COLORBLIND."

"ME?! YOU'RE THE FLAME HEADED MORON WHO CAN'T TELL THAT HIS HAIR IS PINK."

"Is he calling me colorblind too?" Lucy asks herself, completely ignored by the two.

The two jam their foreheads against each other's, their eyes piercing into the others as the rest of the group watches.

"SILENCE IN THE LIBRARY!" The librarian screams from behind her desk, causing the whole group and everyone in the library to flinch.

Reluctantly, the two sit down but continue to glare at each other.

A silence falls upon the group as they all begin their assignments.

Lucy works diligently, trying to get as much work done as possible when suddenly midway through her Calculus homework something hard hits her head and she stops writing.

She looks up to find a stupid boyish grin plastered on Natsu's face as he bites back a laugh. She rolls her eyes at his childish behavior, and returns back to her work.

But, not until she makes sure to kick his leg under the table. A little harder than usual.

He flinches, kicking his knee against the bottom of the table.

"What the hell? Are you having a seizure flame breath?" Gray hisses, as some of his note cards scatter from the bump of the table and fall to the floor.

Natsu scowls at him.

"It wasn't my fault it was L-"

Another kick to his leg as Lucy smirks behind her laptop.

The table shakes.

More of Gray's notecards fall to the floor and Levy's drink almost spills.

"Natsu, control your leg." Levy scolds him and Gray nods in agreement.

The rosette knits his brows at the blonde.

"Yeah Natsu, control your leg." Lucy smirks.

Natsu exhales loudly, his expression annoyed.

Gray lifts a brow before bending over and grabbing his notecards. Levy goes back to her work.

Natsu on the other hand stares down the blonde as she has a victory smile on her lips and mouths the words "I win."

He pouts, folding his arms over his chest and sinking low in his seat.

Lucy only sticks her tongue out at him.

.

.

.

Stretching her arms, Lucy checks the clock on her laptop to see that it was nearing 5 in the afternoon. The five of them had been hard at work for the past two hours but now that it was close to dinnertime the blonde was just about ready to wrap up and head home.

"Well, I better get going home." Lucy says, yawning as she cleans up all of her things and begins placing them in her backpack.

"Me too, I did way too much work for one day." Levy agrees, biting the straw of her drink.

Lisanna nods.

"Natsu, come on wake up." She says, poking him on the shoulder as he slowly opens his eyes.

Lucy eyes the white haired beauty, noticing that it's the first time she'd spoken up at all. She wondered why she was acting so quiet today.

"Huh? What time is it?" Natsu says groggily, rubbing his tired eyes.

"Almost 5. We're all going to head home, want to walk with me?" She asks him bluntly, batting her eyes sweetly as she presses herself a little close to him acting flirty.

Lucy feels uncomfortable just watching it. She knows Lisanna likes him…but she'd never acted this way in front of any of them before. It was…weird. Her whole entire behavior today was just...weird.

Natsu, being completely oblivious to her chest up against his arm, only shrugged.

"Sure." He answers simply, grabbing his bag off the floor and standing up.

"Bye guys." Natsu waves, slinging his backpack over his shoulder as he walks out with Lisanna.

As the two walk out, Lucy notices just how _close_ Lisanna keeps herself to him. She was practically walking _on_ him as they left the library.

It made her feel weird inside.

"Are they like an item or something?" Gray asks, his expression slightly confused as he looks from the library doors to Lucy and Levy.

"Sure looks like it. I mean have you noticed how today she didn't talk to anyone but Natsu?" Levy mentions.

Lucy nods to this. It was true. She didn't spark up a conversation at all or join one for the matter. It was unlike her.

Gray licks his lips, before looking over to the blonde.

"Did you two…uh fight or something?" The raven haired male asks, causing Lucy to blink her eyes in confusion.

"Lisanna and I? No, why?" She asks, feeling confused and for some reason nervous.

Did they fight? She didn't remember fighting, the last conversation they had was about some movie they watched over the weekend.

Gray shrugs.

"She was death glaring you whenever you were talking. You didn't notice?" He asks, slightly surprised.

"No…why would she be mad with me?" Lucy questions, feeling her heart turn heavy.

Levy rests a hand on the blonde's shoulder.

"She could just be in a bad mood or something. Don't worry about it Lu." Levy reassures her, smiling warmly at her friend.

Lucy forces a small smile, but still her heart feels heavy.

"Thanks Levy...Well, I really should get going." The blonde says, standing up and slinging her backpack over her shoulder.

"Me too." Gray says, and the three begin to walk out of the library.

But, before they head to the door Levy halts.

"Actually, you two go on ahead. I need to check out one more book before I head out." She says, slowly backing up and smirking Lucy's way.

Lucy raises her brow as the blunette creeps away and races towards the bookshelf.

Lucy knows exactly what she's doing and she swears she's going to kill her tomorrow.

"Well, guess it's just you and me." Gray says, shoving his hands in his pockets.

She nods.

"Come on, let's get out of here."

And the two exit the library, with a smirking and mischievous blunette watching them go.

"You're welcome Gray."

.

.

.

"GRAY GET IT OUT." Lucy screams, probably loud enough that the whole block could hear it.

She was on the verge of tears. Her whole body was shaking, and she could not by any means handle herself properly like an adult.

"Lucy, you have to hold still otherwise I can't do anything!" Gray yelled back, trying to calm down the blonde who was stomping around the side walk like a child and whipping her hair back and forward like she was in some kind of a Justin Bieber music video.

Why?

"THERE'S A BEE IN MY HAIR GRAY AND YOU KNOW I'M ALLERGIC." She cries, her eyes becoming wet with tears as she hears the deathly buzz.

"ACTUALLY I DIDN'T KNOW THAT AND GOSH STAND STILL." He shouts, but the slight sound of laughter escaping his lips is heard. He can't help it, the whole situation was ridiculous, frightening a little, but ridiculous nonetheless.

The blonde halts in her moves, her shoulders shaking.

"Get it out Gray!"

And that he does as he reaches into her thick blonde locks and searches for the bee.

Seriously, they were enjoying such a nice walk back to her apartment when she just had to get attacked by Mother Nature herself. First Lisanna was upset with her now the world wanted to kill her. Fan-freaking-tastic.

Shaking her blonde locks, a black and yellow striped little bumblebee innocently flies out and zips past her raven haired hero.

"There, all gone." He says, deciding not to mention that bumblebees actually don't sting.

Lucy sighs heavily.

"Oh my gosh thank you, that was terrifying." She shivers.

Gray can't help but laugh.

"It's not funny!" She pouts, slapping him lightly on the shoulder as they begin walking again.

"It was pretty funny." He admits, teasingly.

"S-Shut up." She stammers, hating how even though she should be upset with him she couldn't help but smile at his stupid laugh.

The two fall into a rather comfortable silence as they walk down the sidewalk.

"I can't believe you fainted yesterday." Gray says seriously, breaking the small silence.

"Where did that come from?" Lucy giggles.

Gray rubs the back of his head sheepishly.

"Don't know, but you had me worried. That flame headed idiot wouldn't even let me come into the nurses office to come check on you!" He says, frustration crossing his features before a blush splashes on his cheeks as he realizes what he'd just said.

Lucy raises a brow.

"You came to visit me?" She asks, slightly surprised.

He nods, scratching his cheek.

"Yeah, I wanted to make sure you were…you know…okay."

Lucy smiles warmly towards him.

"I'm surprised I didn't wake up because of your fighting." The two share a laugh.

"Well, it was getting to that until Natsu backed off, knowing you'd wake up if we started screaming." He admits.

At this Lucy's heart does a little mini flip.

"Wait," She looks over at Gray with widened eyes," _Natsu_ backed off from a fight with _you_?" She asks, completely shocked.

He never backed off from a fight, especially with Gray. To think he'd do it for her. She didn't know what she was feeling.

It was…once again weird.

"That's what I was thinking!" Gray exclaims, and the two halt in their steps.

"Well, this is where we part ways." Lucy says, looking over at her walking companion as she has to cross the street.

Gray nods, licking his lips.

"Yeah."

She watches him, as the two stand in a silence both not really wanting to head home. She notices the way his hair sways, the raven color looking darker in the dim sunset light. His onyx eyes were focused on the street before them, and something in Lucy's chest felt warm.

He had accompanied her home and although she was confused and a little saddened by Lisanna's actions he managed to make her forget about it. Even if only for a little.

He was a good friend.

"Thank you Gray." Lucy suddenly blurts out before realizing she'd said it out loud.

Gray blinks confusedly.

"For what?" He asks her, his onyx eyes staring down at her.

Lucy smiles warmly.

"For being a good friend."

Gray makes a weird face, although his pale cheeks become significantly redder.

"S-Stop saying weird things Lucy." He stammers a little.

Lucy squints her eyes at him

"Weird things?! I WAS COMPLIMENTING YOU!" She pouts.

Gray laughs, a hand landing on the top of her head as he ruffles her blonde locks.

"Okay thanks Goldie Locks, now go home it's getting late." He says casually, grinning a brilliant shiny white grin at her before turning on his heel and heading towards his house.

Lucy stands there watching him go before his words really sink in.

"HEY DON'T CALL ME GOLDIE LOCKS YOU STRIPPER!"

How did she not notice that his shirt was off this whole time?


	8. Chapter 7: Drunk Confession

**a / n**

 _HEYO!_

 _Wrote this like a month ago, but I never got a chance to upload it._

 _Hopefully this will steer y'all into the direction this fic is giong. (maybe, not really?)_

 _I do actually like this chapter a lot, since I can lowkey relate. (lol) (sobs)_

 _Please leave a review if you enjoyed! Love you all!_

 _XOXO_

* * *

The week was going by quickly, a little _too_ quickly for the blonde as it was already Friday evening and she had zero plans and zero motivation to begin any of her homework. Unfortunately, she had no energy to go anywhere today and the group was out doing something or another.

She had politely declined, knowing that if she went firstly it'd be super awkward with Lisanna and secondly…she just didn't feel like interacting with other people.

With her feet up on her desk and her head resting lazily on the back of her desk chair, the blonde let out a long and tired groan.

She was exhausted, both physically and mentally. And not only from the school day but from the awkward situation she had somehow nestled herself into. Not only has she noticed that during all of their study sessions after school in the library Lisanna has made a point to sit far away as possible from Lucy, but she had also started to excessively flirt with Natsu in front of the whole group.

Perhaps she didn't notice it, but it made everyone feel weird. Okay, maybe no one really cared but it made _her_ feel weird.

She didn't like it.

And of course she was rooting for her all the way, but it was just…Lucy couldn't figure out why it bothered her so much as it did.

But, that wasn't all.

Lisanna also made it very clear that she had no intention of speaking with the blonde. Every time Lucy would spark up the simplest of conversations, like asking her a question about an assignment or just anything in general, Lisanna would either remove herself from the conversation or answer curtly.

It was unlike her, and the blonde still had _no_ idea what she had done to ever upset her.

Sighing, Lucy stares up at the ceiling.

"Maybe I should call her?" She thinks aloud, sitting up and reaching for her phone, which was laying on her opened textbook.

The group wasn't planned to hang out until a little later so shooting her a call before shouldn't hurt.

Grabbing her phone, she scrolls towards Lisanna's name and is about to hit the call button when she receives an incoming call from…

"Natsu?" Lucy answers almost immediately, wondering why on Earth he's calling her.

"Yo Luce, where are you?" He asks, although Lucy can barely make out what he's saying because of the blaring music and yelling people in the background.

"What'd you say? Natsu I can barely hear you?" She says loudly, hoping he can hear her.

"I said where are you?" He repeats louder, his voice a little slurred.

Was he drunk?

"At home? Where are you?" She asks him, feeling a little worried.

Natsu wasn't really a wild drinker. So the group must have decided to go to a bar…why would they do that? In the group text they were all talking about heading out to some restaurant or something.

She didn't know they were really big drinkers…and alcohol can make you make stupid decisions.

Lucy was slightly worried.

"At a barrrr, Lucy why aren't you here?" He asks her, laughing a little.

Lucy's about to answer him, when another voice interrupts their call.

"YO FLAMEHEAD…FIGHT MEH." A masculine voice yells, also clearly drunk from the way he's speaking.

"SHUT UP ICE PRICK I'M TALKING TA SOMEONE."Natsu yells back, practically breaking Lucy's eardrum and she hisses a curse under her breath.

"Is that Gray?" She asks him, and Natsu grunts which she takes as a yes.

Suddenly the line starts to buzz and she hears some arguing between the two as to who should talk to her and then moments later the line goes dead.

Dropping the phone beside her ear on the bed, Lucy can't help but feel her heart sink a little.

He was out at a bar…drunk…with Lisanna.

"AGHHHH." She cries out in frustration.

Why does she care so much?! She shouldn't care. It was freaking Natsu, it's not like they'd do anything dumb…

Smacking her head with her palms a few times to snap herself out of her depressing and self torturous thoughts, the blonde forces a large smile to caress her features.

"I'M GONNA ORDER PIZZA." She screams loudly, racing to the kitchen as she scrolls through her playlist and blasts some Justin Bieber jams.

.

.

.

The blonde had spent the rest of the night watching youtube videos that made her laugh so hard she almost choked on her pizza and died. Yes, she ate a whole pizza and no she did not regret it one bit.

But, now as it was two in the morning and the blonde was bundled up in her one too many blankets and her pink headphones were in her ears, she was giggling like a child as she watched a cat jumping off a table and falling only a little ways in its epic leap.

She found it hilarious.

After laughing for about ten minutes straight she hears a loud banging on her door. Jolting in all of her blankets, the blonde pauses the video and becomes deathly silent to listen closely. She might just be hearing things.

Another knock.

Feeling her whole body freeze Lucy stays in her little bundle not daring to leave her bed and head for the door.

Who made a visit at two in the morning?! A serial killer. That's who.

When her visitor continues knocking profusely, the blonde feels beyond frightened. She'd never been in a situation like this. Looking around her room, she spots the nerf gun Natsu had left at her house a few weeks ago.

Knowing that it's the only weapon close by she gets up from her bed, which creaks scaring the living hell out of her because she's already paranoid, and heads over to the gun which she picks up. Stealthily, she maneuvers through the small apartment until she gets to the rattling door.

Slowly, she looks through the little peephole and what she sees causes all of her fear to be replaced with…

Complete and utter annoyance.

Without a second thought she whips the door open.

"Natsu what the hell are you doing here banging on my door it's two in the morning?!" She hisses, trying to keep her voice down as her neighbors are most likely snoozing away.

She takes a good look at him, noticing that his hair is in all sorts of directions and he seems to have lost his shirt on the way here. His cheeks are rosy, which she guesses is from the alcohol, and he has a loose tie wrapped around his neck. He's not wearing shoes but only black socks and his white shorts are wrinkled. He's also a little sweaty and gosh he reeks of body sweat and liquor.

"Luucyy," He slurs the words, his lips curving into a drunken grin.

The blonde only rolls her eyes.

She'd only seen Natsu this drunk a few times in her life, and it's not like he was some aggressive drunk but he was just so…slow.

"Get inside before someone wakes up, come on." She says hastily, grabbing his tie and pulling him in before shutting the door as quietly as possible.

"Owwww, that hurt." He pouts, rubbing the sore spot of his neck.

"You're going to be so hungover tomorrow." She laughs, setting the nerf gun down on the kitchen counter.

Natsu on the other hand just watches her as he stands in the middle of her apartment.

When Lucy turns around to ask him if he'd like to go to sleep on the couch, she is met with a pair of charcoal eyes that are burning with drunken desire.

It was…odd. Not frightening, but it made her feel small under his deep stare. She also couldn't help but notice how freaking close he was to her. Her chest was practically up against his and she could smell his intoxicated breath like it was some kind of fan blowing febreeze, but a totally different smell.

"Natsu, why don't you go to sleep." She says, looking into his eyes as it's the only thing she can look at without staring at his chest.

"But, I'm not tired." His voice is husky, low and masculine. It causes a deep shiver to race down Lucy's spine, causing her whole body to tingle.

He was drunk, Lucy had to remind herself.

"Yes you are, you need sleep." She reprimands him, trying not to focus on the burning in her cheeks and the fact that her heart was doing that weird thing again where it kind of felt like it was about to melt in her chest.

"I like you." He says drunkenly, his face leaning in ever so closely to hers.

Lucy's face seems to burn even darker shades of red but the small pout in his lips and the heat of his body causes her mind to melt, no reasonable thoughts able to be comprehended as she awaits his actions.

All she wants to do is stub his toe and force him to lay down on the couch, but right now in this moment…she can't move. It's as if he, Natsu her freaking best friend, is paralyzing her with his oddly seductive drunken words and aura.

It was weird, but she couldn't say she didn't like it.

With his lips ghosting over hers, he whispers something that causes Lucy's heart to completely shatter.

"I like you, Lisanna."

At this, all of Lucy's senses kick in her paralyzed state breaking as she forcefully shoves him back before his lips even touched hers.

Lisanna.

So he did really love her.

The thought left her sizzling with numbness.

She should be happy right? Happy that her bestfriend had found a girl he liked.

What confused her the most? She didn't. Not at all.

When Lucy stared at the drunken man before her who was now stumbling back due to her forceful push, she felt as though someone stabbed her heart with a knife. She felt like he somehow betrayed her. Betrayed their friendship by letting another women into his life.

She…she hated it.

"What the hell was that for?" He asks, staring at her with those bloodshot drunken eyes filled with innocent hurt.

She averts her eyes, not daring to look him in those puppy dog eyes. She can feel the tears burning in her eyes and she doesn't want him to see her crying.

Even when he's drunk, she can't let him see that. What if he'd remember the next morning? The chances of it happening are close to nothing, but still Lucy wasn't willing to take the risk.

"Get out." She hisses, her voice shaking with hurt as her heart is struggling to stay alive.

He looks at her with a confused expression, and a flash of hurt spreads across his dark eyes.

"Get the hell out of my apartment Natsu." She says a little louder this time, her tears falling freely as she stares down at her socks. Her whole body was shaking; she didn't even understand why she was so heartbroken.

The tears just wouldn't stop.

Natsu listens to her, much to her surprise, as he quietly walks out of her apartment all drunk and wobbly.

She doesn't even care to watch him go.

As he shuts the door behind him Lucy races to her bed, plummeting face first into her pillow as she feels her heart has already broken into thousands and thousands of pieces.

After all these years, she never would have thought she'd be crying over the fact that Natsu was crushing on another girl. He had never had a crush on a girl back in high school. Maybe this is why it was so frightening for her.

What if he falls in love with Lisanna and completely forgets about her?

But that wasn't even the worst part. The worst part was that after all of these years Lucy had never recognized her hidden feelings for the rose haired male.

That is until this very moment.

She's in love with her best friend.


	9. Chapter 8: Awkward

**a / n:**

 _WOWEEE a whole new chapter!_

 _Pretty eventful too if I say so myself. Well, kind of. Not really._

 _Gah you guys I really love this story, although I find that I SUCK when it comes to writing it...but whatever I'm having fun._

 _Let me know what you think after reading! I LOVE YOU ALL._

 _XOXO_

* * *

After keeping herself locked up in her apartment for the whole weekend, Lucy hesitantly and nervously stepped into the library.

How much she had been dreading this moment. She didn't even want to _look_ at Natsu let alone be in the same room as him. The blonde had gone through the school day avoiding all eye contact with him, and when he tried approaching her she forced herself on the closest person next to her, sparking up a very girly conversation that he backed away from almost immediately.

The word tampon? Oh, it sent him flying in the other direction.

Not to mention that she had spent all weekend replaying the two in the morning scene and probably adding unnecessary dialogue that made her heart clench even more.

Those three simple words completely broke her.

And she hated that it did.

But, after not receiving any text messages from the group chat, or for the matter any texts from any of them at all she was walking across the library towards the laughing bunch she called her friends.

And she was sweating buckets and practically ready to just turn around and high tail it out of there. How would he act around her? Did he remember anything?

Would things be different?

"Hey guys." Lucy says a little shyly, as she stands by the empty seat next to Lisanna and Gray.

The group looks over to her, Levy giving her a bright smile before shouting her usual, "LUUUUUUU!" The blonde forces a sort of full smile at her.

"Lucy, haven't heard from you all weekend whatsup?" Gray asks casually, and Lucy takes a seat.

Without even thinking she sneaks a quick glance at the rosette, who is looking at her with a bored expression, before answering Gray.

"Oh, pretty boring had a lot of homework." She responds casually, although she can't help but keep replaying Natsu's lips almost touching hers.

It caused her cheeks to taint a light shade of red.

At this, Gray raises a brow.

"H-How about you guys. How was the bar?" She asks, her eyes once again glancing over at the rosette, who is now typing something into his phone.

Was he texting someone?

"How did you know we went to a bar?" Lisanna asks, actually speaking up for the first time.

Lucy looks over at her, noticing that her brows are knitted and she looks a little irritated. Looking at Lucy as if she was some kind of a nuisance.

The blonde could actually feel the tears forming in her eyes.

What did she do that caused this odd irritation and tension to form between her and her friend?

Taking a deep breath, she forces a little smile.

"Natsu called me all drunk, I kind of put two and two together." She laughs, a complete fake laugh to at least lighten the now heavy mood sprayed out between the two.

At this Natsu raises a brow.

"I called you?" He asks her, his eyes falling on hers.

All she sees is the charcoal eyes that burned with heavy desire just a few nights ago and she feels her knees grow weak and her limbs turn to jello.

"Yeah, you asked me where I was and then you started to fight with Gray." She responds coolly, trying her hardest to keep her voice from wavering.

At this Erza shakes her head.

"They got us kicked out of the bar."

The two boys gulp at this, both paling.

"I'm not surprised." Lucy responds, shrugging her shoulders.

"Hey!" The two boys cry simultaneously, before glaring at each other.

Lucy rolls her eyes.

"Sooooo Lisanna, what happened after Natsu and you left the bar?" Levy winks, her eyes flaring with mischief.

At this bold remark Lisanna practically falls out of her chair and Natsu just plasters on a look of utter confusion.

"Levy!" Lisanna cries, her cheeks turning rosy before a scowl sets on her features.

"Oh come on, you two clearly were up to _something._ " Levy wiggles her eyebrows.

Lisanna only folds her arms over her chest and looks over at the rosette.

"Well," She begins, the heat on her cheeks burning, "He _was_ supposed to walk me home but then he freaking disappeared as I started walking away. One second he's next to me the next it's like he hadn't been there."

Lucy feels her heart lurch out of her chest.

He didn't go with Lisanna…he came to her place. But, why? Lisanna and him…were they going to _do it?_

Lucy's cheeks turn red at this, and she shakes her head.

No way, they weren't even dating!

"Wow, the pyro maniac actually knows a little about romance." Gray jokes smugly, earning a nice kick in the shin from said pyro.

"Shut up, I don't even remember any of that." He says sheepishly, rubbing his now rosy cheek.

"Salamander gets drunk and can't even get laid. HA!" Gajeel intervenes, howling like a maniac at his little joke.

Gray joins in on his laughter, and Jellal even freaking snickers a laugh.

Mind you, Jellal rarely even makes _noise._

"Oh, do you and Levy happen to have a story to share then?" Natsu taunts, smirking madly as Gajeel's usually stoic expression turns flabbergasted.

Levy's face looks as if it's about to explode.

"N-NATSU! I-It's nothing l-like that guys, Gajeel and I didn't do anything!" She squeaks, speaking as if she's about to hyperventilate and pass out.

Lucy could spot that lie from a mile away. Maybe they didn't do the deed, but they definitely had some secrets between them.

Soon enough, the whole group was accusing each other of things they had done that Friday night. Turns out Erza went crazy when she was wasted, and she ordered people around like a mad man. Gray shared that she forced him let her ride him around as if he were a horse and Jellal had to lead Gray by a rope they found in the men's bathroom.

What the actual heck, was all Lucy thought.

But, nonetheless, it seemed like they all had a fun time without her. She wished she didn't decline the offer to meet up with them.

And right now, she felt completely left out. Natsu and Lisanna seemed to have had quite a night, forgetting the fact that he was completely wasted and didn't remember past his second drink, but still the two seemed evidently closer even though Lisanna kept reprimanding him about leaving her all alone and vulnerable on some sketchy street.

"Natsu remember when you blocked me from that chair Gray threw at you?" Lisanna admires him, her eyes shiny as she looks at the rosette.

Natsu smiles proudly.

"Hell yeah, I broke that thing in half!" He boasts, causing Lisanna to giggle like a fangirl before shooting Lucy a look that the blonde only thought was possible in movies.

It's the look that the popular girl gives the loser when she wins over the boy of her dreams. In this case Lisanna being the popular chic, Natsu being lover boy, and Lucy being the typical loser.

Lucy shifts in her seat uncomfortably.

She just wanted to go home.

Clearing her throat and interrupting part of Natsu's and Gray's fight about the chair throwing incident, Lucy stands up.

"I'm going to get a coffee," She says.

She needed to get out of the room for just a little. Natus looks up at her and their eyes meet. She sees him begin to open his mouth, most likely suggesting accompanying her, when Lisanna nudges him on the shoulder and cutely asks him to help with one of her homework assignments.

He shuts his mouth and all of his attention is on her.

"I'll come with you." Erza says almost immediately, standing from the table.

"Let's go then."

.

.

.

Stepping out of the library, the two head to the small café on campus.

"So, mind telling me what's going on between you and Natsu?" Erza asks bluntly, tucking a beautiful strand of red hair behind her ear.

Lucy's breath hitches in her throat and she stammers nervously.

"Something wrong? I-It's not like he tried to k-kiss me then confess his love for Lisanna! Pshhhhh everything's fine!" She stammers like an idiot, her face becoming purple and blue from lack of oxygen as she speaks as though it'll be her last words.

When Lucy gets nervous, she has zero self-control for what she says or does.

Yes, it was a problem.

At this Erza's jaw drops.

"HE TRIED TO KI-"

Lucy clamps a hand over the redhead's mouth.

"NO! I was just giving you a hypothetical situation," She awkwardly smiles," Duh."

Lucy feels the sweat forming on her neck as she takes her hand off of her mouth.

Erza knits her brows at the blonde, her eyes scrutinizing her.

Lucy swallows thickly.

"Listen Lucy, it's clear that Natsu's an idiot I just didn't think he'd be able to mess up so…so bad." She admits, shaking her head.

Lucy sighs.

She might as well admit defeat, not like her lie was anything close to convincing.

"He _was_ drunk." She shrugs, staring at her feet to hide the small tears forming in her eyes.

A comforting hand lands on the blonde's shoulder as Erza gives it a small squeeze.

"I'm sorry." She says softly.

Lucy shakes her head.

"It's fine, I was actually trying to set Natsu and Lisanna up for a while so I'm glad he likes her now! It worked out perfectly actually." She lies, her heart feeling heavy.

She hated lying, especially to someone like Erza.

Even though they didn't talk as much as she did with the other girls, Lucy knew that Erza was a good friend just by seeing how she treated her friends. She was protective, loyal, and completely whacked at times. Lucy really did admire her strong leadership and crazy habits.

Hopefully this lie won't hinder their friendship.

"Are you sure?" Erza asks hesitantly, her eyes filled with concern and a hint of suspicion.

Lucy swallows thickly, suppressing the tears that threaten to form in her eyes.

No, she wasn't sure at all. She wasn't sure of her new emotions, of why out of all the times that she had a chance to start liking Natsu it had to be now, and most of all why Lisanna suddenly despised her.

So, no. She wasn't sure.

"I…I don't know." She responds, staring at her own feet as the two walk into the coffee shop.

"I know what'll cheer you up." Erza smiles, pointing to an open seat so that Lucy can sit down while she heads to the counter to take their orders.

Lucy takes a seat and stares out the window of the little coffee shop.

 _Why did you have to catch feelings of him?_

She thinks to herself, letting out a long sigh.

She wasn't supposed to fall in love with Natsu. She never even imagined it happening in a million years. Lucy wanted everything Natsu wasn't. She wanted someone intelligent, mature, just not…Natsu.

And now that Lisanna apparently had something against her, for who knows what reason, it just made things even more complicated.

"Ughhh," She groans, bringing her face into her hands.

"You okay?" Erza asks, placing a cup of coffee in front of the blonde and taking a seat across from her.

Lucy shakes her head, taking her face out of her palms and staring down at the steaming cup of coffee.

"I just need sometime to think." She says, more to herself than to Erza.

"Go home Lucy, you look exhausted." She gives the blonde a small smile telling her it's okay to leave.

And Lucy does just that.

.

.

.

Waking up to a small knock on her door, the blonde flutters her eyes open. She was currently tangled in her bed sheets and wearing only a white tank top and pink fluffy pajama pants.

After coming straight home from the coffee shop she immediately changed into comfier clothes and fell asleep. She needed to forget about her thoughts, forget about him.

Rubbing her tired eyes and noticing that it was dark in her apartment, the blonde looks over at the clock. She had slept for 5 hours as it was nearing 8 o'clock.

Another knock sounds through the apartment.

Groaning, she throws the covers off of herself and gets out of bed. She immediately shivers and wraps her arms around herself. Lazily, she walks to the door not even caring what she looks like.

She turns the doorknob.

Her eyes widen at who she sees.

"Gray?"

He stands in the hallway of her apartment, holding her school backpack. His eyes seem to brighten once he sees her.

"Hey Lucy, you forgot your backpack at school I thought I'd drop it off." He says, scuffing his foot against the rug of the hallway as a small blush creeps on his cheeks.

Lucy blushes herself, feeling like an idiot for forgetting her things. She was so focused on her thoughts and exhaustion once she left the coffee shop that she completely forgot about her things back at the library.

"T-Thanks Gray." She stammers, feeling completely embarrassed. And then as if the situation couldn't get even more embarrassing for the blonde she looks down at her outfit and realizes she's standing before him in her pajamas and her hair must look like a rat's nest from her nap.

But, Gray doesn't seem to care or he's just being nice and not mentioning it.

"No problem." He shrugs simply.

"Why don't you come in, uh sorry about my attire." She says sheepishly, opening the door a little wider and stepping to the side to let him in.

He walks in and she shuts the door, following him into the living room area.

"Were you sleeping?" He asks, setting the backpack down by her couch and turning around to face her.

"When I get stressed I tend to sleep a lot." She shrugs, taking a seat on one of the bar stools that sit along her island.

Gray raises an eyebrow.

"Stressed?" He inquires, concern washing over his charcoal eyes.

Lucy nods slowly, swallowing back a lump.

She didn't even know why she felt the sudden urge to cry.

Perhaps it was because it wasn't Natsu coming back to her place and dropping off her things. She remembered when they were in high school he'd always barge in announcing some ridiculous scheme the two would get into or simply crashing on her bed and falling right to sleep. One time he even brought home a litter of cats he found on the street and the two had to make sure each and everyone got adopted before one of their parents found out.

He was really messed up in the head.

But nonetheless, he'd always be there.

Now he was with _her._

"Hey, you okay?" Gray says softly, his concerned eyes now only a few inches away from hers as she blinks back into reality.

And his one simple question, those three insignificant words seemed to cause something inside of the blonde to break.

A single tear cascades down her pale cheeks.

"No." She says shakily, staring down at her feet as the endless stream of tears pours out of her eyes.

She didn't even want to be crying in front of Gray. She didn't want to be crying in front of anyone, period.

It's not like she never cried, but she just hated dragging other people into her problems. And the one person she could confess all of her secrets, dreams, and sorrows with loved someone else.

Lucy was broken.

Suddenly, her face is nuzzled securely against cool fabric and a firm chest. She blinks her eyes in surprise, not realizing that she hadn't been paying attention to anything but her own thoughts and miseries. Arms wrap around her, locking her in an embrace.

"G-Gray…" She breathes into his chest, her tears staining his grey colored shirt.

"You don't have to say anything to me Lucy, it's okay." He says, his chin resting on the top of her blonde head as he gently rocks her back and forth in attempt to sooth her.

And even though that's not at all what she expected his response to be from all of this she can't help but label it as so…so _Gray._ She figured if it were anyone else they'd be freaking out over why she was bawling her eyes out just because he mentioned the word "stressed." And yet here he was letting her cry into his freaking shirt and not even minding if he has no idea why.

What she did next was probably even more unexpected.

Lucy started to laugh.

"Lucy, are you going crazy?" Gray asks, pulling away from her just a little bit as his hands still rest on her shoulders. He looks at her face, her eyes are a little red and swollen from crying but her laughter and brilliant smile cause his cheeks to flush.

She was beautiful.

"I…don't know…Gray." She says in-between laughter, wiping her tears away as she does so.

He only shakes his head with a smile of his own on his face.

"Ne, Gray." Lucy begins, her voice turning soft and delicate as she stares at him with her gentle chocolate eyes.

"Hm?"

"Why is Lisanna mad at me?" She says bluntly.

As soon as the words leave her mouth the blonde gasps. That was not at all what she wanted to ask him.

 _Idiot, idiot, idiot!_

But, Gray only shrugs.

"She's been acting weird lately. Probably has something to do with Natsu." He answers, stepping back and shoving his hands in his pocket.

"Is that why you're so upset?" He asks her, and Lucy feels her palms grow sweaty from nervousness.

She didn't want him to find out the real reason why she was so upset. So she just went with it.

"For the most part. I just don't understand why she's being so standoffish lately." Lucy admits, looking down at her feet.

Gray purses his lips in thought.

"I'm pretty sure I have a good idea why." He says, causing the blonde to look up at him.

"You do?"

He nods.

"But, I think it's better if you figure that out on your own."

Lucy tilts her head in confusion at him.

"What do you mean?" She asks, really hoping he'll give her a hint as to why Lisanna was pissed at her.

Gray only shakes his head, walking over and ruffling the blonde's locks playfully.

"G'night Lucy." He smirks at her childish pout and heads for the door.

"Gray, hey answer me! What the hell does that even mean?!" She yells as he walks away.

If he doesn't tell her, she'll never figure out why the hell Lisanna's mad!

"Sweet dreams~" He sings as he walks out of the apartment, closing the door gently behind him and Lucy can only picture the devilish smirk on his lips and just how much fun he's getting out of torturing her with the information he won't give her.

"I HATE BOYS." She fumes, stomping over to her backpack and giving it a good kick.

"FRICK." She yells, hopping on one foot as she holds her toe.

 _Fan-freaking-tastic._


	10. Chapter 9: Silence

**a / n:**

 _WOW._

 _This chapter wasn't even supposed to be out today but I put on sad anime OST music and it kind of just happened._

 _I kind of cried writing some scenes, maybe I'm just emotional after my nap._

 _Love you all to the moon and back thank you for supporting this story!_

 _XOXO_

* * *

Walking into the library that afternoon, the blonde was limping slightly. Turns out she hit her toe harder than she'd wanted to, and it was swelling and torturing her with each little step she took.

"No, you were the one who burnt all of our cookies!" Lisanna says, scolding a certain rosette as he rubs the back of his neck sheepishly.

"Well, I thought fire would do the trick?"

"Yes, but not when you throw them into the fire!" She rolls her eyes.

"YOU ALMOST CAUGHT MY PLACE ON FIRE NATSU." Levy yells from across the table, an anime vein popping on her forehead as she glares at him.

"hehe…sorry…" He says nervously, sweat pouring down the side of his face as he sees the flames of wrath in Levy's eyes.

"Guys you're forgetting the most important part," Gray adds to the conversation, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms behind his head in a cocky manner.

"No I'm pretty sure that was the most important part." Levy deadpans, still pissed that her place could have gone to smithereens.

"I won the cookie bake off," Gray smirks.

And the whole group begins bickering again that is before Erza pounds a key on her laptop causing everyone to look over.

Her flaming read hair is levitating around her body in a threatening aura as her usual bright eyes turn darker than any sinner's soul, causing the whole group to gulp simultaneously and shut the hell up as quick as possible.

Jellal only smirks behind his book.

Lucy, standing behind a bookshelf close by, realizes that the group had spent time together without her. She clutches the straps of her backpack tightly, her throat constricting as she feels tears form in her eyes.

That's the second time they decided not to include her.

And the worst part?

They seemed to have had a hell of a good time without her.

She looks back at the group one last time, well more like at a specific person.

Natsu.

His radiant toothy smile with his unnaturally sharp canine teeth seems to be even brighter than before as Lisanna leans in and whispers something to him. A soft hue of red is seen on his cheeks that is before Gray seems to make a witty comment and he glares at him. The two engage in a head-butt causing the whole group to laugh and roll their eyes.

He looks so much happier.

So much happier without her,

And with Lisanna.

Looking down at her feet, she lets her blonde bangs cover her wet eyes.

He didn't need her anymore. He didn't even make an effort to reach out to her. They hadn't texted, called, or even hung out for what seemed like weeks.

And Lucy being her overly anxious self didn't want to annoy him by constantly messaging him. The few times she did all she received were short answers with no real intention of wanting to spark up a conversation.

Turning around, she wipes her eyes and heads towards the direction of the exit.

Her pace quickens, and just as the doors close behind her a waterfall of tears erupt from her eyes.

Racing towards the nearest bathroom, the blonde opens a stall and leans against the wall, slowly sinking to her bottom.

She never thought of herself as one to cry in the bathroom. Especially over a boy, much less Natsu. Her freaking best friend.

Her heart seems to stop in her chest as a realization dawns upon her.

Could she even call him that anymore?

Her tears only grow harder as she sobs, hugging her knees closely to her chest.

A knock on the bathroom door causes her to jump.

"Luce, you in there?" A deep masculine voice says from behind the closed door.

Lucy bites her lip, not wanting to respond. She doesn't want anyone to see her this way.

Especially not _him._

A few seconds pass.

She hears a sigh.

"You owe me so much after this."

The door opens not even a second later and she hears him walk towards the stall that she was currently seated in. Holding her breath, she hopes he gets the message to leave her alone.

"Natsu," Her voice shakes, "Please leave me alone." She practically begs, her voice cracking as she buries her head in her knees and sobs silently.

Out of all the times he had to come and talk to her, it had to be now.

"Idiot," He laughs a little and she hears him sit down. Peeking over to her left she sees that his back is next to hers.

"Luce, why are you crying?" He asks softly.

Something in Lucy breaks.

When was the last time that they talked? Not small chat but a real conversation? It felt like ages ago.

"What are you doing here Natsu?" She ignores his question, not wanting to answer for fear that she'd just start crying even harder.

"Answer my question Luce." He says gently.

She sighs. He knows all of her tricks.

"I don't know." She lies, biting her lip.

He snorts.

"You know better than I that that's a lie."

"So what if it is?" She retorts.

"Because I'm your best friend and you're supposed to tell me why you're crying?" He says it like it's the most obvious thing in the world.

At this Lucy's chocolate eyes widen.

"Some best friend you are." The worlds slip right out of her mouth before she can do anything. They're twisted with hurt, anger, and sorrow.

Gasping, she brings her hands to her mouth mentally cursing herself.

"What's that supposed to mean?" He asks, clear confusion lacing his voice.

"Nothing." She quickly replies.

She already felt their friendship drifting; she didn't want to fight with him.

"Did I do something wrong?" He asks quietly.

Lucy can't help but snort.

He really was a dense idiot.

"Yes."

She can sense that he's slightly surprised by her answer by the way the muscles on his arms tighten and his hands turn into small fists.

"What do you mean?"

Lucy leans her head back on the wall of the stall, her head fuming with insults and irrational thoughts. She wanted to open this freaking stall door and hit him right across the cheek for his stupid words. How could he not notice? He had been completely ignoring her for weeks now, his only attention on Lisanna. Even Gray, someone she'd only met this year, was acting like a better friend than him.

She'd known Natsu for years. Ever since birth.

But now?

She didn't know him at all.

"You chose her."

She says it. She finally says what she's wanted to say for weeks now.

But for some reason, instead of feeling good about getting the weight lifted off her shoulders it feels like someone added one hundred more pounds to it.

He stays silent and Lucy's mouth seems to have a mind of it's own.

She elaborates.

"You were drunk," She begins inhaling sharply through her nose to hopefully stop the tears from forming in her eyes.

"You don't remember this, but you came to my apartment."

Natsu's body stiffens.

"When?"

"The night you were supposed to be with Lisanna." The words are so hard to say, her whole body seems to break her heart taking the largest impact.

"Luce…" He mutters softly, his tone begging her to stop.

For some reason, he didn't want to hear what she was about to say next.

"You…you…you were about to kiss me…then just before you did you told me you," He voice cracks and she feels her whole body shakes as she relives that night.

"Stop Luce." He says his own voice laced with complete regret and sadness.

"You told me you loved her."

Silence.

Silent tears.

Silent heartbreak.

Silent shock.

"Say something." Lucy says softly after what feels like an eternity.

After a few torturing seconds, she hears him stand up.

Lucy never understood the pain of silence. Not until she lived the most painful of them all.

The silent goodbye.

.

.

.

Not long after that incident, and with no surprise to the blonde whatsoever, her and Natsu stopped all contact.

She didn't even know _why_.

But, it wasn't like she was going to question him.

Not only because she was afraid of bringing up the matter, but also more importantly because everywhere she went little miss perfect was tagged along. It seemed like the two were connected by the hip.

She didn't think her life could get any worse-

"We're dating!" Lisanna announces cheerfully, taking Natsu's hand in hers as she beams at the whole group.

Not like Lucy is sitting with them, she hasn't ever since the bathroom incident, but she does hear them as she snoops around the library looking for a new book to read and maybe possibly eavesdropping on a few of their conversations.

The book she had been holding moments ago falls to the floor, a loud thud echoing through the library.

Her heart seems to stop.

The group looks over, all eyes on her as she scrambles to pick the book up.

"Lu, hey come sit with us it's been a while!" Levy says happily, but the blonde can tell that her eyes are screaming with worry and concern.

Wondering what happened and why she has been ignoring everyone.

"I-It's okay I was just leaving." She responds, cursing herself for her stupid nervous stammer.

These people were her closest friends, why did she feel so intimidated by them?

As she walks to the check out, she glances over at the group and sees Natsu's eyes follow her every move.

And then she watches as Lisanna notices what he is doing and leans over, giving him a cute peck on the cheek and giggling as he turns tomato red.

That was the last time Lucy ever entered the library.

.

.

.

It was nearing Christmas break, and with finals taking up all of her time, Lucy was bundled up in blankets and with her face buried in her notes and textbooks. She would be complaining about finals, but they gave her a good excuse to ignore her phone and her "friends."

She felt bad for ignoring them, especially Levy since she seemed to really want to hang out and catch up…but Lucy had zero want to tell the bluenette the whole story.

And she was partially upset with Levy, or more like disappointed. It's not like Levy wanted Lucy to be part of the group, she never invited her to any of their hangouts or group chats.

The blonde began to hate her cellphone. Whenever she'd check up on her social media she'd see an endless sea of snap chat stories that consisted of the whole group doing something stupid or fun without her. It's not like she would call them out on it, but she felt so left out it caused her heart to hurt.

Worst of all, no one made an effort. It's like they all forgot about her.

Well, all except Gray. He seemed to love bugging the crap out of her with his random visits.

She didn't even bother asking him to add her to the group hangouts, quite frankly she didn't even want to be a part of them anymore. And much to her surprise, he rarely went to them anyways and she quotes, "It's just awkward being the third wheel of three couples."

She didn't blame him. Not like Levy and Gajeel were dating…but as much as the blunette hated to admit it they kind of were.

Oddly enough, Gray seemed to become her closest friend. He would always bring over a new book, sometimes she'd throw it back at him telling him she'd never read "50 Shades of Grey" and he'd just snicker and tease her about it. She would blush madly, kicking him out of her apartment in seconds.

It was weird, but getting used to his company was easy. He was much more relaxed and easy going than…well you know who.

Sometimes he'd come over, the two wouldn't even exchange hellos, and he'd sit on her couch watching the sports channel while she studied or read.

It wasn't much, but it made her a little happier.

"Lucy." Gray snaps his fingers in front of her, grabbing her attention.

"Huh?" She says dumbly, blinking her eyes.

He's currently seated at in front of her at the foot of her bed and millions of notebook papers are littered across her sheets, along with textbooks and notecards.

"I said, what are you doing for winter break? It's next week you know."

Lucy sighs. She had been dreading winter break, possibly more than finals. Ever since Natsu began dating Lisanna it's even more awkward. She hadn't talked to him for a little over a month now, and she had zero intention of doing so.

Lisanna was always very good at ignoring her, it's still something Lucy can't understand. Lucy doesn't even know why Lisanna resents her. Lucy did set her up with Natsu and now all she gets is the cold shoulder.

What the hell?

"I don't want to think about winter break." She says curtly.

Lucy grabs a notebook, trying to ignore the conversation but Gray takes the notebook right out of her hands.

"Come on Lucy, you have to get over him. Otherwise you'll never be happy." He says a little harshly, causing the blonde to cringe internally.

As much as she hated what he was saying it was true. Not like she was going to admit that.

"Easy for you to say. You don't love your best friend." She says, her eyes turning sad as she stares down at her fingers.

Gray chuckles softly.

"You're right I don't," And quietly he adds, "Well she doesn't know that."

"Hm?" Lucy inquires, not fully catching the last part.

"My point is, you're either going to have to get over him and move on, or tell him how you feel."

Lucy rolls her eyes.

"You're forgetting a something Gray. He has a girlfriend."

That sentence still causes her heart to hurt like hell.

"So what you think he's actually in love with Lisanna? She's all over him, clingy and all that, you think guys actually like that?"

"They don't?" Lucy asks, slightly surprised.

From what she's seen the two have been happily in love. Or so she thought.

"Lucy, I'm practically Natsu's best friend, he tells me everything you know? And trust me he complains about her. _A lot._ "

Lucy snorts.

"So what? He still loves her."

Gray runs a hand through his tangled dark hair as he sighs loudly.

"You're so dense Lucy." He chuckles as she pouts, her cheeks puffing out cutely as she scowls.

"Am not!" She pouts, grabbing her fluffy pink pillow and whacking him with it.

Not expecting that, he tumbles over landing on his back on the hardwood floor.

"OI WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT FOR?!" He yells from the ground, but Lucy can't hear him over her high-pitched laughter.

When he stands up, ready to grab a pillow of his own and begin whacking her with it to give her a taste of her own medicine, he stops in his tracks almost immediately as his eyes land on her.

She's clutching her stomach as she gasps for air laughing hysterically.

"Y-You're f-face..bahahahha" She cracks up, pointing fingers at him.

Gray can't help but smile.

It's the first time she's laughed so hard in weeks.

As much as he loves her smile he can't help but grab a pillow of his own and pelt her with it.

He hovers over her, hitting her with the pillow softly and she continues to laugh as she pushes him off of her gentle.

The two roll around on the bed, engaging in a full on pillow fight.

"You're going to have to do better than that!" Gray laughs, rolling over so that he pins her with arms by her head, smirking devilishly.

Lucy raises a brow at his mischievous smirk.

"Are you ticklish?" He asks, his eyebrows wiggling playfully.

Lucy pales.

"You wouldn't dare." She says, her eyes widening.

He leans in closely, up until their noses are touching. She feels her cheeks heating up at their proximity, but the glint in his eyes causes a shiver to run down her spine.

"Watch me."

.

.

.

The next morning at school, Lucy decided to get up early and head to school in order to get in some last minute studying before first final.

The blonde is about to turn the corner when she hears a loud grunt and the shuffling of shoes on tiled floor.

"What the hell Natsu?!"

Lucy jumps at the loudness of his voice.

Gray?

Peeking over the corner ever so slightly in hopes of not being noticed, her eyes widen significantly.

She sees Gray pinned against the wall with a confused look in his eyes as he stares at Natsu who is holding the collar of his shirt aggressively.

The pure seeping of hatred in his eyes causes a rush of shivers to race down Lucy's spine.

She'd never seen him so livid in all of her life.

"Let go of me." Gray says sharply, his voice cold and harsh.

Lucy realizes that this fight is unlike the others they've had in the past.

In this one, they're actually fighting over something.

"I saw what you did last night." Natsu snarls, his canine teeth looking more like fangs to Lucy as she watches him spit in Gray's face.

"What the hell are you talking about?" Gray asks irritably, trying to shove the rosette off of him.

But Natsu only tightens his grasp, raising his collar up to show that he's not letting go anytime soon.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about," He growls, getting in Gray's face," You slept with her didn't you?!"

Gray and Lucy raise a brow simultaneously.

"You really are an idiot." He mutters.

Natsu shoves him against the wall harder causing Gray to grunt from discomfort.

"I can't believe you'd just take her virginity like that? Do you even like Lucy?!" He yells, his eyes boring into Gray's.

… _EH?!_ Lucy screams internally.

"Get off of me Natsu." Gray says, shoving the rosette off of him forcefully causing him to stumble back.

"You did didn't you? What the hell Gray, how could you just use her like that? She doesn't deserve someone like you!" Natsu continues shouting, his hands balled up into fists and Lucy notices that his knuckles are a deathly white.

"I didn't sleep with her what the hell gave you that idea?" Gray responds, balling up his own fists.

Natsu opens his mouth to speak but Gray cuts him off.

"Even if I did why should you care? You have a girlfriend." He says matter of factly, smirking as Natsu's angered face falters to shame.

"But I saw you two, through the window you were on her bed and-"

Gray lets out a manic laugh.

"So you're spying on her now? Wow, that's too good. What does your girlfriend think about that?" Gray asks, watching as Natsu's face scrunches up in anger.

"Shut up I wasn't spying!"

"Yes you were."

"Stop making me the bad guy you're the one that took her virginity!"

Gray's face turns annoyed.

"Yeah, so what if I did? At least I like her and don't mess around with her feelings."

Lucy's breath hitches in her throat.

Gray…likes her?

And something in Natsu snaps, along with Gray's nose.

 _-CRACK!_

"Shut up." He says darkly, his voice practically unrecognizable to the blonde. The menacing anger in his eyes along with his canine snarl makes him seem almost animalistic.

Seeing enough, the blonde steps out of her hiding place.

"STOP IT." She yells, watching as Gray stumbles against the wall and holding his bleeding nose.

The two look over at her in complete shock.

"L-Lucy…" Gray mutters, his face paling.

"Crap." Natsu murmurs, realizing that she must've heard the whole thing by the look on her face.

Curling her own hands into fists the blonde stomps over to the rosette.

Natsu watches her come up to him and raise her head. Her chocolate eyes are seething with anger, and he gulps loudly.

He knew this look meant he was going to get a massive scolding.

"Just what the hell is wrong with you?!" She yells.

"Luce I-"

"Why do you suddenly care about what I do? We haven't talked in months and now after you see me hanging out with another guy you go on a rampage and freak out!"

"Listen-"

"No _you_ listen. Even if I slept with Gray, which I didn't, it's none of your concern. I 'm sure you and your new girlfriend do tons of things together so why does it matter if I do it too?" She says harshly, her words hitting him like fire.

She honestly didn't care anymore. Neither did she understand what his problem was.

He cares about her, but then again he's dating another girl.

Lucy was confused, frustrated, and about ready to blow a fuse in a matter of seconds.

"I don't care it's just you're…you're you!" Natsu says, not really sure how to find the right words for what he's feeling.

"What does that even mean?"

"I DON'T KNOW." Natsu yells, and before Lucy can question him farther he's off, racing in the other direction.

The tempting urge to follow him and find out answers looms over the blonde, but she decides against it as someone grunts behind her.

Turning around she sees a puddle of blood on the floor, along with Gray holding his bloody nose and crimson liquid dripping from his hand.

"Oh my gosh, Gray are you okay?" She says frantically, rushing over to him.

He nods.

"Y-Yeah, I just need a tissue." He says, avoiding her eyes.

"Ok."

And the two begin walking towards the nurses office in hopes of finding a tissue.

"Hey did you…did you hear all of that?" He asks shyly, his cheeks tinting a rose color as he stares at his feet.

They walk in a little bit of silence before Lucy answers.

"Y-Yeah." She says awkwardly, realizing that he just openly admitted to Natsu about liking her and she heard the whole thing.

"Gray I-"

"It's fine Lucy. Can we just pretend that never happened? I really like you as a friend, I wouldn't want to break that over something stupid."

The sad part was that Lucy didn't find it stupid at all. She was flattered he liked her, and she really wished she could return the feelings. Gray was kind, caring, all around the perfect kind of guy. He treated her the way she always wanted to be treated; yet her heart just didn't agree.

"What are you even talking about?" Lucy plays along, smiling as she nudges his shoulder.

Gray chuckles.

They reach the nurses office and the bell rings.

Lucy pales.

She's late for her first final.


	11. Chapter 10: Gossip

**a / n:**

 _Happy New Year loves!_

 _Not necessarily my best chapter...but it's all I could do. I've been super busy during my winter break so sorry if I'm low on inspiration in this chapter._

 _I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas spent with your family and friends. :)_

 _XOXO_

* * *

Collapsing on her bed, the blonde lets out a long and tired sigh.

She had just spent the majority of her evening packing for her trip back home. Clothes littered her floor and her whole room looked like bulls just stampeded through it. It took her ages to decide what she wanted to bring vs what she needed to bring. It was a disaster.

The only nice thing about packing is it brought her mind off of a certain rosette and the happenings of a few days ago. It was crazy to think how much had changed between them, considering that it had only been one semester.

He had a girlfriend.

She was in love with him.

His girlfriend hated her.

Lucy's closest friend had feelings for her.

Talk about a mess.

A knock on the door breaks Lucy's train of thoughts, thankfully.

Getting up from the bed, she makes her way over to the door wondering who decided to visit her. It couldn't be Gray; he was out with the boys tonight before everyone left on break.

Looking through the peephole, Lucy's eyes widen.

She opens the door to see two of her friends standing there. To Lucy, it feels like ages since the last time she's spoken with the two and her heart feels heavy with guilt. It's not that she was ignoring them, although she wouldn't blame them if they felt that way, it was just hard to be around them considering they were both so close with Lisanna and all.

"Erza…Levy…" Lucy says, her eyes filling with small tears as a realization dawns upon her.

She really did miss her friends.

"Lu, what's going on?" Levy asks, her voice small and fragile as she stares at her friend with concerned and hurt eyes.

Lucy shakes her head, staring down at her feet.

"I…I don't know."

.

.

.

After making three cups of warm tea and sitting down in the living room area, Lucy sits across from her two friends who were all wrapped up in blankets and sipping on their teas.

"So…" Lucy begins awkwardly, not really knowing where to start.

Erza clears her throat, setting her tea down on the table.

"Lucy, what happened between us? We never see you anymore." She says, her voice tinged with hurt.

Lucy's heart shatters at the painful expression on both of their faces.

She was so engulfed in her own misery about losing Natsu that she inflicted the same amount of pain on others.

"I just needed some time on my own." She says softly.

"But you've been ignoring the group for months now!" Levy says.

Lucy nods slowly.

"Well I-"

"Lucy!" Erza says abruptly.

The blonde looks up at the redhead, noticing that her cheeks are flushed a rosy pink and she's staring at Lucy with embarrassed and hurt eyes.

"D-Do you r-really think I'm a w-whore?" Erza sputters, clearly embarrassed by the thought of being one as she fiddles with her fingers and her eyes turn sad.

Lucy's mouth hangs open from disbelief.

"Who told you I think you're a whore?" Lucy asks, shocked by her sudden accusation.

Erza swallows thickly.

"I shouldn't say, but really I'm not. Jellal and I have been together for years and I'm really loyal to him and-"

"Erza, I don't think you're a whore, stop it!" Lucy yells, not wanting the redhead to explain herself since Lucy already knew that Erza was a loyal girlfriend.

Erza blinks her eyes a few times, confusion spreading across her features. She notices the genuine look in Lucy's eyes and realizes she's telling the truth.

"Then why did Lisanna…" Erza begins softly, and then covers her mouth with her hands gasping.

 _Li…sanna?_ Lucy thinks, eyes widening in shock. Was she trying to turn everyone against her by spreading lies?

"What…What else did Lisanna tell you?" The blonde hesitates; her eyes burning with unshed tears. She folds her hands in her lap, her knuckles turning white from anticipation.

Levy shifts uncomfortably on the couch.

"She told me that you, um, that you were looking for a well erm…" Levy squirms, her cheeks flaring at this point as she stares down at her tea.

Lucy internally cringes. What the hell did that white haired girl tell her friends?

Erza clears her throat.

"She's basically been telling us that you're some kind of a slut who wants to sleep with Gajeel and all the other boys at the table."

Lucy's jaw drops.

"A-And you guys believed her?!" She yells, her heart filling with hurt.

Did people really think that way of her? Was that all she was?

Levy and Erza look down at the floor simultaneously.

"We didn't want too. We didn't think you were that type of girl, but then again we didn't know you that well and so..." Levy exhales a shaky breath, her eyes glossed with tears," We're so sorry Lu, we didn't know any better. Lisanna has been our closest friend since high school we didn't think she'd lie to us."

Lucy nods, taking all of the information in. She didn't want to believe that it's true. What had she done to Lisanna to make her resent her this much?

A realization dawns upon her, and the blonde sputters a manic laugh.

Her two friends look at each other with a confused look.

"She's just been playing me this whole time so that I could get her closer to Natsu." Lucy says, laughing before her smile turns into a frown and she buries her head in her hands.

"I'm such an idiot." She says, her voice muffled by her palms.

She feels her palms grow wet. She can't stop the tears from falling.

Lucy had genuinely wanted Lisanna to be happy, and shouldn't she be? She was dating Natsu wasn't that all she wanted? Why was she making Lucy's life miserable?

This wasn't high school anymore. Do people ever grow up?

"Lu, don't cry." Levy says softly, taking a seat next to the blonde and wrapping an arm over her.

The three sit there in silence for what seems like hours, but is only a few minutes.

Erza takes a long sip of tea before setting her cup down on the table.

"We need to do something about Lisanna. Her behavior has been unacceptable." She declares, standing from her seat on the couch and pounding a fist into her palm in a motivating manner.

Lucy looks up from her hands, her eyes red from crying. She shakes her head.

"There's nothing we can do." She says sadly.

Levy snorts.

"Lucy we've known Lisanna since high school, trust me once we get back from break we'll surely have something in mind." She winks at the blonde, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

Although the blonde didn't necessarily know what the two were thinking, she couldn't help but feel a sense of warmth bubble inside of her chest.

They cared about her, and that's all that mattered to her at the moment.

She smiles.

"Okay."

Little did Lucy know what kind of mess she was getting herself into.

.

.

.

Waking up that next morning to the rising of the sun, Lucy stretches her arms over her head and lets out a healthy long yawn.

Rubbing her eyes she looks over at the clock to see she has an hour and a half before her train departs and she is to be heading home.

After successfully getting ready for the journey home and grabbing her cute pink suitcase, the blonde locks up her apartment and heads outside onto the streets. Although, she's surprised to see who is waiting for her.

"Hey Lucy." A raven-haired male says coolly, his signature smirk plastered on his face.

"Gray? What are you doing here?" She asks, scrutinizing him.

He told her that he was leaving last night after the boys got done with whatever they were doing.

He chuckles.

"Well hello to you too." He jokes, plastering a hurt expression.

Lucy rolls her eyes.

"Hi Gray, it's so lovely to see you." She deadpans and raises a brow at his smug expression," Happy?"

"Delighted."

She hits him playfully on the shoulder, annoyed by his stupid cockiness.

He snickers.

"Anyways, I was just stopping to say goodbye. I won't see you for two weeks." He says, a small blush creeping up on his cheeks at his hint of a confession as he scuffs his foot against the concrete of the sidewalk and scratches his cheek nervously.

He was so freaking cute Lucy couldn't help but smile.

The warmth swelling in her chest causes the blonde to act on impulse, and she takes a few fast steps forward before wrapping her arms around his neck and resting her chin on his shoulder as she steps up on her toes to gain some height.

She feels him stiffen at her sudden embrace, but within seconds he brings his arms around her waist and hugs her back a little gently almost nervously.

Lucy closes her eyes, relishing the moment and his warmth. She was thankful to have a friend like him, thankful that he stuck by her side through probably one of the worst semesters of her life.

Opening her eyes, she's frozen in place.

Charcoal eyes meet chocolate orbs.

She watches as an unreadable expression glazes over his face from across the street before he breaks their gaze and begins to walk the other direction.

Why was it that her heart was just about ready to jump out of her chest and race after him? Why did he have such a paralyzing effect on her?

"Lucy, you alright?" Gray asks softly, feeling that her whole body has stiffened in his arms.

She snaps out of her thoughts and odd paralysis, and immediately pulls away from him a little rougher than she had wished to.

"Why wouldn't I be?" She breaks out into a smile, forcing herself to stop thinking about _him._

Gray raises a brow, completely seeing through her façade but decides to drop the subject.

"Call me sometime?" He asks, shoving his hands in the pockets of his coat.

"Just don't be mad if your phone doesn't stop buzzing." She jokes, smirking as his face pales.

"Lucy if you kill my phone battery on the ride home-"

"Have a Merry Christmas Gray!" She says, already racing towards the direction of the train station and laughing hysterically.

The last thing she hears from him is a small murmur.

"Yeah, yeah Merry Christmas."

.

.

.

Lucy Heartphilia would never in a million years admit that she was wrong. Nope, it simply just wasn't a part of who she was. She believed that everything happened for a reason.

But now, standing before empty train tracks and up at the board that displayed the times of departure she was dumbfounded.

Her train had left an hour earlier than she had thought.

And when things get out of her control Lucy does something every adult would do.

"Hey mom." Lucy says through the phone, taking a seat at one of the chairs and rubbing her temples.

"Lucy honey, how are you?" She says sweetly, her voice tinged with a little worry.

"Listen, I kind of missed my train."The blonde bites the inside of her cheek to keep from crying.

She was panicking beyond belief, not knowing what to do. It would be impossible to find another train considering it was only a few days before Christmas. Even now there were hundreds of people bustling through the train station all heading somewhere for the holidays.

She hears her mom sigh.

"Oh honey how did you manage to do that?"

Lucy lets out a nervous chuckle.

"I thought my departure time was 8 but it was actually at um 7." Her voice is small as she cringes hearing her mother grit her teeth.

"Lucy you're an adult now you need to pay more attention to these things! How are you going to get home? You can't possibly be late for Christmas! And we have the family party tomorrow afternoon don't tell me you're going to miss that too?" Her mother says, disappointment and worry in her voice.

Lucy runs a hand through her hair, completely at loss of what to do.

"Mom, I'll go talk to someone who works here and see if I can figure anything out. I'll call you soon okay? Love you."

She hangs up before another round of lectures bursts her eardrum.

"Ughhh Lucy you're so stupid!" She says to herself, groaning as she buries her head in her hands.

"You just realized that now?" A familiar voice says next to her, causing the blonde to jump in her seat.

"N-Natsu!" She sputters like an idiot, completely stunned that the rose haired boy was sitting next to her, hands folded as he rests them on his knees.

When did he get here?

"Hey Luce." He says in greeting, lifting a hand to do a lazy wave.

Lucy can't help but watch in bewilderment at his casual behavior. They hadn't talked in weeks, and here he is acting super casual while she is sweating profusely and about ready to bolt in the other direction.

Forcing her heart to calm down, she inhales sharply through her nose.

"Did you miss the train too?" She asks, doing a mini victory dance inside of her head for not stuttering.

He nods.

"Yup I thought it was at eight."

"Hypocrite." She pouts, folding her arms across her chest as she rests her back against the seat.

He only chuckles lightly at her childish behavior.

They sit in a sort of awkward and discomforting silence. Lucy's mind was racing, and so was her heart. She didn't know what to say, how to act, how to breathe.

It was such a foreign feeling to her, to act this way around her "best friend."

Natsu clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth before inhaling loudly and standing up.

"Where are you going?" Lucy asks him.

He turns around to face her, extending a hand.

She raises a brow.

"Come on Luce, we're going on an adventure."


	12. Chapter 11: Drive

Feet and cheese.

That's exactly what the car smelt like and Lucy would be happy to say that she was exaggerating, but she wasn't.

"This car reeks." She complains, pinching her nose as she takes a seat in the passenger seat. The car was small and the inside, although clean, still had the lingering scent of feet and cheese.

Lucy already knew this was going to be a hell of a long day.

"It could be worse, at least you're not stuck in a train with a bunch of people." Natsu says starting the car and they proceed out of the parking garage.

Lucy sighs.

That's the point; it was just as bad possibly worse being here with just him. She wished people were around so she wouldn't have to be stuck alone in a car with him for who knows how long.

Not like she was going to tell him that.

"Yeah." She says softly, leaning her elbow against the window and her chin on her palm as she looks out the window.

She preoccupies herself for the first fifteen minutes or so just staring out the window as Natsu drives along the road until he's on the highway. The situation isn't perfect, of course it's awkward and both of them have no idea what to say well at least that's how Lucy felt.

She would much rather curl up into a ball and be sling shotted through the window.

It felt weird with things being how they were with Natsu. She never thought that him getting a girlfriend would make them grow so far apart. Well, maybe if she didn't have feelings for him and he was dating anyone but Lisanna who literally made it her mission to ruin her life then things would be better.

But, nothing's fair right?

She snaps out of her thoughts as something nudges her foot. Curious as to what it is the blonde looks down and what she finds causes an ear bleeding scream to rip from her throat.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" Natsu screams, his heart practically stopping in his chest out of fear as he swerves the car to the left earning an earful of honks from neighboring vehicles.

"T-T-THERE'S A R-R-AT NATSU KILL IT." Lucy yells at the top of her lungs, being jerked to the left by the car and due to her lack of a seat belt she falls right into Natsu.

"I CAN'T SEE THE ROAD." The rosette cries, unable to know where the hell he's going as he tries to look over Lucy, swerving the car in all different directions. He only prays they don't both die.

Lucy, now sitting in Natsu's lap and clinging to his jacket for dear life, is visibly shaking. She absolutely loves animals but not stinky rats that could carry infectious diseases. No, she would not by any means touch such a thing.

"N-Natsu, you have to get rid of i-it. Please." She pleads, her voice shaking as tears of fear pool in her chocolate eyes.

Natsu, clearly panicking as he has no idea if he's even in a lane and with Lucy's screaming and the honking of other cars he figures he's no where close, forces himself to just calm down and handle the situation.

"Can you duck so I can pullover?" He asks, and Lucy who only blushes complies with his command by hugging him, a little awkwardly, and nuzzling her head in his chest. As she does so she can feel his heartbeat and how it's pumping identical to hers. She doesn't know if it's from his panic or their proximity or both, but it seems to calm her and cause a small smile to form on her face.

After successfully and miraculously pulling over on the side of the highway the rosette stops the car and exhales a loud breath.

"Luce, uh we stopped." He says awkwardly, a blush on his cheeks as he pats her back.

The blonde, totally lost in his manly smelling cologne, snaps back into reality.

"R-Right." She murmurs against his shirt, as she sits back up noticing that indeed they are pulled over.

Looking back she notices the hue of pink spread all over the rosette's chest, most likely mimicking her own.

"I-I'll get out of the car." She murmurs, opening up the car door and very awkwardly climbing off of his lap and hopping out of the car.

Feeling like a completely frazzled mess, the blonde watches as Natsu unbuckles his seat belt and bends over to look for the rat.

Why was this happening to her? Out of all the cars at the car rental they had to get the one with the rat, and not mention she just made a complete fool out of herself in front of him.

She hated having feelings for him. Before if this happened they'd both laugh and he'd tease her stupidly, but now she felt insecure for acting out and freaking jumping on him.

A honk snaps her out of her thoughts and causes her to jump out of her skin.

"WATCH IT LADY." Someone screams from their car as they whiz past her.

Realizing that she's almost standing on the highway, the blonde quickly scurries to the other side of the car that is half on the grass.

Could this day get any worse?

Taking a deep breath she leans her back against the car.

Why was she even here with Natsu on this road trip. Stupid her for missing the train.

"Luce, I got it." Natsu yells from inside the car. She turns around to look inside through the window and sees him holding the rat by the tail as it squirms being hung upside down.

The blonde nearly vomits.

"G-Great, now g-get rid of it." She says, feeling her skin crawl at the sight of the rodent. That disgusting animal touched her foot. She shudders.

The rosette climbs out of the car and walks around to come to her side, his eyes glistening with mischief.

"Natsu don't you dare." She says harshly, although her voice is shaking as he approaches her with the squealing rodent.

Natsu's stupid, Lucy knows that for a fact, but is he really dumb enough to actually make her touch that thing?

She sure hopes not.

"Oh come on Luce, look at the poor guy." Natsu says, wiggling his brows as Lucy backs away.

"Natsu…" She warns him, bending down and slipping her shoe off in case she needs to defend herself. She'd rather have her foot freeze on the icy grass than touch an infected rat.

Watching her with her "weapon" Natsu can't help but burst out into laughter.

"You really don't trust me do you?" He chuckles, shaking his head as he turns his attention from her and walks further towards the forest.

Lucy watches him, weapon still in hand, as he lets the rat go and it races into the woodland.

Relief washes over her.

That is until Natsu doubles over and empties the contents of his stomach. A rough and painful cough rips through his lungs as he vomits on the side of the road, his body trembling.

"Natsu!" She yells in horror. She was not expecting that.

Feeling panic course through her body, she lets go of her shoe and races towards him. Upon reaching him she bends down and places a hand on his back.

"Are you alright?" She asks, stupid question since he clearly isn't but she's panicking.

Natsu coughs, wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his jacket before looking up at the blonde.

"Y-Yeah, let's get back in the car it's freezing." He says, his features pale as he's slightly shaking.

Lucy shakes her head.

"I'll drive, you rest." She helps him to his feet, and once on them he slightly sways back and forth before regaining his balance.

"No, it's fine Luce. You said you didn't want to drive." He says, giving her a soft smile.

This take's Lucy by surprise. So he was car sick, and even though he felt ill he managed to calm her nerves and catch a rat. For goodness's sake he drove so that she didn't have to.

Why was he doing this for her? He would always complain how much he hated vehicles. So why was he being overly kind? Was this his way of trying to rekindle their old friendship after months of ignoring each other?

"I'd feel better if you rested in the passenger seat." She says firmly, no room for argument as she takes his arm and loops it around her shoulder.

Even though he's too stubborn to admit he needed her support to walk to the car, she feels him lean onto her for support as they walk towards the beat up rental.

Helping him into the passenger seat, Lucy closes the door and heads to the trunk where she takes out her backpack. Grabbing two medicinal pills of Advil and a water bottle, the blonde walks to the driver's side, this time careful of the other cars racing by, and closes the door behind her as she climbs in.

"Take these, they should help with the motion sickness." She says, placing the pills in his hand and holding the water bottle out for him, which he gladly takes.

Taking them in one big gulp, he finishes up the contents of the water bottle in a flash.

"Thanks Luce." He smiles, though it doesn't reach his eyes as she notices that he's in discomfort.

She doesn't blame him, vomiting up your lung on the side of the road is both painful and humiliating.

"Just get some rest." She instructs him, before starting the car and putting it into drive.

She watches from the corner of her eye as the rosette leans his head back and closes his tired eyes.

"It's what friends are for." She whispers softly to herself.

.

.

.

Three hours in and Lucy was starting to feel herself growing hungry. It was nearing noon now, and the sky was shining in brilliant hues of light blue as white pasty clouds littered its space.

She just crossed her fingers hoping the snow would wait until the two got home safely.

Parking, the blonde stops the car at a rest area.

She looks over to her right, seeing that her rose haired friend is still fast asleep. His mouth was hung open, as he snored lightly and his hair was slightly matted as his head had been resting against the car seat.

Knowing that she was probably being beyond creepy just staring at him, the blonde forced herself to stop…but she couldn't. This was the face of the boy, er man, that she had known since she was too young to remember. Yet, here she was head over heels for the boy yet she knew that he would never return the feelings.

Fate truly was cruel, Lucy decided.

"Natsu, hey we're at a rest area. Let's go grab something to eat." She says softly, nudging his shoulder gently in case he still felt ill.

Natsu opens his eyes groggily, groaning from the discomfort of being awoken.

"Where are we?" He says, completely disoriented as he looks around the car and out the window.

"A rest area, it's almost noon. Thought we should get some lunch, if you're hungry. Are you feeling-"

"Hungry? I'm STARVING." He emphasizes, smiling widely as he reaches for the car door and before Lucy can even ask how he's feeling or if he needs anything he's closing the door behind him and marching over to the shops of the rest area.

"Idiot…" She mumbles under her breath before heading out her own door and rushing to follow him.

Seriously, he throws up and the first thing he thinks of when he wakes up is food.

Catching up to him, the two enter the rest area in hopes of finding something that will satisfy their stomach.

It was quite packed, Lucy noticed, and she tries to stay as close to Natsu as possible so they don't get separated. The two walk to a sub shop, hoping to grab some sandwiches for the road.

After ordering food, and Lucy asking Natsu a million and one questions about his health which he all answered quite positively the two sit down to eat.

"Want me to drive after this?" Natsu asks, taking a bite of his sandwich.

Lucy hesitates before answering. Truly, she would gladly let him take over as her legs were beginning to ache a little, but considering what happened last time…well she didn't' want him to risk his health for her.

"But, you'll get sick again. There's no need for you to do that." She says, watching as he furrows his brows expression turning rather serious.

"No, I'll be fine." He persists.

Lucy sighs.

"Really Natsu it's fine. I don't mind driving a little more." She says stubbornly, and they both stare at each other having a silent argument. The fact that they were both stubborn didn't really help.

Taking the last bite of his sandwich, quite angrily, the rosette pushes his chair back and is up on his feet swiftly grabbing the car keys off the table before marching towards the exit.

"Meet me in the car once you finish." He yells across the rest area, walking out the automatic doors.

Lucy, although madly frustrated, feels a sense of warmth spread across her chest. Even though once she got out she'd fight with him over the position of the driver's seat, she couldn't help but shake the feeling that his kindness brought over her.

It felt like old times. Back before they both started college and before their friendship took an ugly turn for the worse.

She feels her heart clench at the thought.

Finishing up her meal, the blonde gathers her things and heads for the car. Spotting Natsu in the driver's seat talking to someone on the phone, she rolls her eyes before climbing into the passenger's seat.

"…it's fine nothing's going to happen okay?" He says, a look of irritation crossing his features as he grips the wheel.

Lucy hears a girl's voice on the other end, and she clearly does not seem happy.

"Listen I have to go, I'll talk to you later okay?" And with that he hangs up the phone, not bothering to hear her answer.

Lucy grimaces at his rough tone. Whoever was on the other end really did it to piss him off.

"Everything okay?" Lucy asks hesitantly, noticing that he's just sitting in the driver's seat, not bothering to start the engine.

"Just great." He says sarcastically, shoving the key into the engine roughly and turning it on.

"Doesn't sound too great to me." She mumbles under her breath, folding her arms over her chest as she looks out the window.

What could he possibly be complaining about? His life was going just dandy, she was the one suffering ever since their friendship ended and she was out to fend on her own. Why the hell was he the pissed off one?

"Like you would know." He retorts, a little harsher than he would have liked.

The air in the car immediately becomes thick with tension.

Lucy snorts loudly.

"Like I would know?" She retorts sarcastically, her eyes still on the view of the road and passing trees as the car enters the highway.

"Lucy-"

"I don't care Natsu." She snaps harshly, her nerves getting the best of her.

That shuts him up.

She didn't want to deal with him, not now, not like this. Not when she had no escape besides opening the door and jumping out onto the middle of a busy highway.

He sighs loudly.

"I'm sorry, I just have a lot going on right now." He says softly, his voice sounding as if he were on the verge of tears.

That surely shocks her. It was a rare occasion to witness such weakness from him, especially now as they weren't on the best of terms. Hell, there friendship was barely hanging on by a thread. A very thin and breaking thread.

She always looked at Natsu as being strong and brave, someone who rarely was shaken. Even in difficult situations that occurred in the past, Natsu rarely got to the point of a voice crack. He was always known to laugh off anything that bothered him.

He was always able to mask his feelings; even Lucy had to admit to that.

"If it makes you feel any better, my life isn't all happy and sunshine either." She says, her voice dripping in flat sarcasm as, ironically, most of her grief derives from his past actions and neglect towards her.

Natsu cringes outwardly at the distaste in her voice.

"Luce-"

"Just drive Natsu, I'm going to take a nap." She quickly cuts him off, not wanting to prolong the heavy conversation.

It wasn't the right place to discuss something like this…something of such gravity and depth.

That was it…not the right time or place. Or so, that's what Lucy convinced herself it to be. In reality, she was afraid that if they began to discuss heavy feelings she would hear something from him that would break her.

That choosing Lisanna over her was the right choice, and that he's the happiest he's ever been.

Her heart clenches at the mere thought of those words escaping his lips.

Closing her eyes, the blonde ignores any thoughts that boggle her mind.

.

.

.

The journey home lasted the entire day, and by the time they were pulling into Lucy's driveway the sun had already said it's goodbyes to the sky and the moon happily lit the world below. Thankfully the clouds had parted and the night sky was filled with a vast collection of sparkling stars.

Quiet and peaceful.

"Luce, wake up we're here." Natsu whispers, nudging the blonde's shoulder lightly.

It was probably the first sentence he's spoken since the rest area. After their conversation the two had fallen into a steady silence, and it just continued throughout the whole car ride.

What was there to say?

Lucy groans in discomfort, swatting his hand away as she repositions herself and curls into the seat. Natsu rolls his eyes at her behavior.

"Come on, I'll get our stuff." He offers, turning off the car and opening the door where an immediate gust of cold bone chilling wind rushes into the car. The blonde shivers immediately, her eyes flying open as her teeth chatter.

"It's f-f-freezing." She stutters, now fully awake.

Natsu snorts. Duh, it's winter he wants to say, but instead of provoking her shuts the door behind him and heads to grab the things from the trunk. Lucy watches him go, not moving from her seat in the car.

What was going to happen once they were inside of her home? Would her parents suspect that something's happened between the two? And if so, would she have to explain?

The thought of it makes her exhausted. The last thing she wanted to do was explain to her parents the situation.

A knock on her window snaps her out of her trance of thoughts as she looks over and sees Natsu standing out in the cold with her bags in his arms. She smiles at his pouty expression.

Why did he have to be so darn cute?

She opens the door, hugging her coat closely to her body as the cold wind blows onto her exposed face.

"Thank you Natsu." And she genuinely means it when she says so. He drove for most of the ride, and she's sure that he feels car sick as hell right now. Even if they have some things to talk about and straighten out and there friendship is nearly severed, she can't stay mad at him.

And she hates herself for it.

Natsu only smiles in return, though it doesn't reach his eyes.

He walks her to her door where Lucy rings the doorbell and her mother eagerly opens the door.

"Lucy! Natsu!" She exclaims loudly, clapping her hands together as delight fills in her eyes at the sight of the two. Quickly, she embraces the both of them and Lucy melts in her mother's warmth.

"I've missed you mom." She says, a warm smile spreading across her features as she buries her head into the crook of her mother's neck. Warm, safe, home.

"I've missed you too Lucy," She replies, and when they both hear Natsu grunt she adds in mock irritation,

"And you too Natsu."

.

.

.

a/n : I'm not dead I promise LOL kill me tho this chapter is so bad I'm so sorry -gets kicked-

im loosing my motivation for this story but I have a few ideas and I want to finish this story really bad since I think it's kinda cute

I PROMISE ILL TRY TO UPDATE MORE FREQUENTLY ISH

...maybe -shot-

LOVE YOU ALL THANK YOU FOR THE SUPPORT! NO JOKE CAN WE ALL HANG OUT AND HUG? AND LIKE EAT PIZZA PLEASE?

ok bye now love you sm


	13. Chapter 12: Netflix and Feels

A/N:

 _Why helloooo there ;) how are you doing today loves?_

 _SO LIKE IM UPDATING WEEEEEEE_

 _Shorter chapter but gee whiz I had a good time writing this since it's FINALLY TIME THAT-_

 _oh wait you have to read to find out. XD_

 _LOVE YOU ALL thank you for the support means the world to me! Hehehe sorry about the angst guys it's my specialty I guess? xP_

 _XOXO_

...

She always loved the holidays, but for some reason waking up and knowing that her family's annual Christmas get together was well, today, it made all the more sense for her to close her eyes and shove her face into her pillow in hopes of falling back asleep.

The night before, once Natsu left, she had a brief conversation with her parents about nothing in particular before collapsing in bed and falling right asleep. And now, she was still exhausted from the previous days long and tedious, not to mention emotionally draining, journey.

But, oh of course, the universe always worked well against her.

"Lucy darling, rise and shine we need get ready for this afternoon's gathering!" Her mother says brightly, stepping into Lucy's room and undoing the blinds, which leave the blonde squirming and groaning under her covers.

"Mom, please five more minutes." She groans into her pillow.

"Now Lucy, this is your favorite part about the holidays, out of bed come on." She smiles brightly, yanking the covers off of the blonde who only groans louder curling up into a ball as the cold air causes her to shiver.

"Moooooom."

"No complaining, you're on cookie duty, and your father is going out to get some wood for the fire, oh and…" She begins her long list of things that need to be done, making Lucy even more tired and she had only woken up not even five minutes ago.

"Okay, mom I'll go do it, let me put on some appropriate clothes." She says finally, not able to listen to her mother's long list of to do's.

Her mother, clearly pleased with this answer, bends down to kiss her daughter on the forehead before happily exiting her room.

After her mother's departure from her room, Lucy rolls over on her back and reaches for her phone, which is placed, on her bedside table.

Clicking it on, the blonde notices she has about four million texts and is quite surprised to see the sea of messages.

Most are from Gray, bombarding her with questions if she made it home safely and updating her on his boring journey home. Smiling to herself, she clicks on the selfies he sent her with random stranger sleeping and couldn't help but burst out laughing at his ridiculous face.

She types out a lengthy reply explaining that she made it home safely and her phone died on the way home. And yes, she purposefully leaves out the minor detail that she spent the whole day stuck in a car with the boy she's crushing over, ex-best friend, whatever one wishes to call him.

She spends the next fifteen minutes responding to Levy and Erza, and texting them back and forth about some silly matters.

That is until her phone vibrates and she receives a text from someone who causes her heart to drop to her stomach and her fingers to become sweaty.

Natsu.

Her finger, so temptingly begins to drift to click on his message to read what he has to say, but being the frazzled person that she is, Lucy tosses her phone, more like slams it, on her bedside table.

"No Lucy, you need to have at least one normal day." She tells herself, taking in a deep and calming breath before gathering herself out of bed and heading for her closet.

She didn't need the hurt and conflict he brought her. Seeing him for the full day yesterday was enough torture.

Right?

So if she thought that why was her heart hammering in her chest?

.

.

.

Cookies.

Lucy probably made enough to feed an army. Her whole entire kitchen island was littered in trays of colorfully frosted Christmas themed cookies, all personally designed and baked by her.

To be completely honest with herself, she was proud of her work as she had spent the entire morning cooking and cleaning the house in preparation for the Christmas brunch with the Dragneels.

Yes, the Dragneels.

She was actually dreading seeing them, especially Natsu. She couldn't help but wonder if he'd told his parents everything. Did they know he was dating Lisanna? Did they know that the two of them weren't necessarily on speaking terms?

She has yet to discuss the situation with her parents, not because she didn't want to tell them, but if she didn't want things being awkward at the table so she would tell them…eventually.

"Lucy, you didn't have to make all of these cookies for me!" Jude teases, strolling into the room all holly and jolly as a big smile is plastered on his features. Lucy rolls her eyes at her dad's joke.

Such a dad thing to say.

"I don't think you need anymore dad." She teases lightheartedly, pointing to his stomach.

Her father chuckles, patting his abdomen.

"You're beginning to sound too much like your mother." He jokes, opening up the fridge to grab himself some eggnog.

Lucy scrunches her nose at his beverage choice.

"Hey, don't knock it 'til you try it."

"I will politely decline your offer."

Her father shrugs his shoulders," Suit yourself." And takes a seat across from her, taking out his phone before excusing himself to answer, what Lucy assumes are some business calls.

She had to admit her father was quite a busy man. Being the CEO and owner of a company that he personally founded must take quite a toll on him especially since he wasn't getting any younger. It saddened her to see that he still had to work on the holidays, regardless on how much he wanted to spend time with his family.

She smiles slightly, remembering just how dedicated he had always tried to be even when his job tangled with family events. When she as young, Lucy's parents thought it'd be a good idea to get her involved in the school's theatre program so being the outgoing kid she was she tried out for the lead part, and surprisingly made the role. She was little Dorothy, but boy instead of remembering the play all she remembered was her father's and mother's hollering every time she said a sentence.

At the time she was frustrated beyond belief, but now, the memory only made her laugh.

Not to mention Natsu refused to be a lion but a dragon instead so they had to change the whole story, it was comical to say the least seeing the little rosette munchkin pretending to be this furious dragon.

The ring of the doorbell jolts Lucy out of her thoughts.

"Lucy, will you get the door?" Her mother shouts from upstairs, as she is doing her hair in preparation for the guests.

Lucy outwardly cringes, knowing just who she'll see at the opposite side of that door.

"On it!" She calls back, taking off her oven mitts and heading towards the front door, all while mentally preparing herself for all the fake smiles and polite talk she had to engage herself in for probably the rest of the day as the Dragneels were known to stay late every year.

It was tradition, and who breaks tradition?

"Merry Christmas!" Lucy puts on her best smile, opening up the door to be greeted with the family standing there holding a wine bottle and few neatly wrapped presents.

"Lucy, look at you! How are you?" Natsu's step-mother Grandine says, smiling brightly at the blonde before embracing her in a tight hug.

"I'm doing well, why don't you all come in." She welcomes them, avoiding all eye contact with the well-dressed rose haired ex-friend as she steps aside.

Igneel, Natsu's boisterous father, ruffles Lucy's hair as he enters muttering something about "growing up too fast" before her parents rush into the front foyer sparking up an all too lively conversation before moving into the kitchen area.

It was all so familiar. They would celebrate like this every year the day before Christmas, and every year Lucy looked forward to it greatly. She remembered how last year her and Natsu went outside, daring each other to jump into the snow wearing only swimwear. Lucy was so hesitant, but when her parents came out with the camera and began recording Natsu bear tackled the blonde into waist high snow…she wanted to drown him afterwards in the hot tub.

But, now? Now she wanted nothing more than to hide up in her room and watch some Netflix to get her mind off of things.

"Hey, Luce." Natsu's the first to speak, breaking the all too painful silence as the two remain standing in the foyer, looking at everything but each other.

"Hi." She responds quietly, hating how awkward the two had become.

"Crazy day yesterday." He tries at some conversation.

Lucy nods slowly. Crazy is an understatement.

"I-"

"Want to go upstairs and watch some T.V.?" Lucy asks quickly, wanting to just stop talking all together. She didn't want this painful small talk, she didn't want to force something that clearly wasn't their anymore,

Their friendship.

"Sure." He shrugs casually, kicking off his shoes as he follows her upstairs.

Once in her room, the blonde closes the door behind them. Natsu falls down on the plush white couch in her room, taking out his phone and immediately texting someone. Lucy can only guess who it is, though she thinks her guess is most likely correct.

Then something dawns upon her.

She's alone, in her room, with Natsu.

Her cheeks burn as if on fire at the thought.

It was so weird to think that they had done this thousands of times before with it meaning absolutely nothing to her other than two friends enjoying each other's company, but now? Now everything was different.

No! Lucy mentally slaps herself. She would not think about this now.

She walks over and seats herself next to him, though makes sure that it's not too close. Grabbing the clicker, the blonde switches on Netflix.

She scrolls through the channels aimless, and seeing as Natsu is too stuck on paying attention to his phone, she clicks on a chick-flick. She might as well enjoy her time, with or without his company.

But of course, the minute the movie starts playing the rosette audibly groans.

"The notebook again? You've made me watch this hundreds of times with you." He pouts like a child, giving her a pouty look with his eyes squinted.

Lucy rolls her eyes, as if falling back into old habits every time he spoke.

"It was not a hundred times. Maybe twice."

"Same thing."

"Actually that's 98 less than what you assumed." She teases, smirking as he rolls his eyes in irritation.

She was somewhat still happy she could get that reaction out of him. It's been a while since they'd teased each other like this.

"Fine, you win. But can we please watch something else?" He asks, well practically begs.

"Why does it matter? You're on your phone anyways." She says, a little bitterly then she'd intended to.

Natsu quirks a brow at her slightly harsh tone.

"Sorry I have friends." He mutters under his breath, going back to his cellphone.

"I thought I was your friend." She says before she can stop herself.

She watches as the rosette visibly stiffens, his fingers freezing on his phone screen as though he's paralyzed. That must have hit him hard, and to be frank the blonde didn't feel too much better by saying that a loud.

She knew for a while now that their friendship was slowly withering but saying it a loud…it made it all seem too real.

"Luce, you are my friend." He says softly, not meeting her eye.

Lucy snorts. What was this a comedy show? How could he not see the blunt reality?

"Really? Last time I checked friends don't leave each other after getting with one of their friends?"

There it was. She finally said it. And it felt good to see him cringe, the guilt become evident in his onyx colored eyes.

He deserved to feel that.

And just like that the air around them became thick with tension, binding and suffocating tension.

"You didn't exactly make it easy you know?" He retorts, staring down at his lap.

At this Lucy feels her jaw drop to the floor. Did he seriously just say that?

"Me?" She emphasizes, clearly shocked by his words, " You're meaning to tell me I made things complicated? You're the one rubbing your perfect little relationship in my face while taking all of the friends that I had made along with you. I had no one for months, no one even looked at me. I was so lonely, and I was stupid to think you would be there for me because news flash Natsu, you left me just like everyone else."

She could tell that was the last thing he wanted to hear as he shifts uncomfortably on the couch.

"What else was I supposed to do? Lisanna constantly made me busy and she always planned everything, I felt rude inviting you to the hangouts she planned. It wasn't in my place."

Lucy shakes her head in disbelief.

"How about 'Hey remember Lucy? Why don't we invite her?' Maybe that's what you could have done instead of forgetting my existence." She bites back, feeling her anger rising.

She always knew Natsu was dense, but this…this was reaching a new level.

"Well, Lisanna always told me you didn't like her I didn't want you two fighting or something." He tries at defending himself, but Lucy only clicks her tongue in annoyance.

"I was the one that tried so hard to set you both up after she told me that she thought you were cute. I was the one that did everything! I unknowingly sacrificed my friendship with you so that she and you could be happy! How could you just forget about me like that? Do I really mean so little to you Natsu?" She says, her voice shaking.

She can feel the tears burning her eyes, but she forces them back inhaling sharply through her nose to try and calm her nerves.

"Luce, I…I didn't know you felt that way…I'm so sorry…" He trails; guilt and regret shrouding him like a cloak.

Lucy's heart squeezes at the raw pain in his voice, the sheer regret.

"I don't want to fight anymore Natsu. I'm tired of this, of avoiding each other." She says, sadness lacing her every word as her eyes become glossier.

Natsu nods.

"Me too," He says softly and then adds," I've missed you Luce."

"I've missed you too."

And the sincerity in her voice is real, so raw. She's missed him, with all of her being as he's the missing piece in her life, the the last of the puzzle. And even if he doesn't see her as anything more than a friend, she'll take whatever she can get.

She feels an arm wrap around her shoulder before being pulled into his firm and cologne smelling chest. She doesn't resist, because a hug like this is far over due and well needed. She practically melts in his warmth, relishing the feeling that his touch gives her. The jolt of electricity, the madness of her beating heart, the burning heat in her cheeks.

Even after it all, her heart still yearned for him.

She feels his cheek rest atop her head, and the only sound in the room is the movie playing softly in the background.

The only thing that keeps boggling her mind is one simple thought.

"Hey, Natsu." She says softly into his chest.

"Hm?"

"Did Lisanna tell you things about me?" She asks hesitantly.

She can feel the rosette stiffen. And that just confirms it all.

"What…What did she say?" Lucy asks, her voice wavering a little. She can only imagine what she's told him, considering what she had told Erza and Levy.

"She uh, she told me you liked Gray a while back." He says awkwardly into her hair as she feels his warm breath on the top of her head.

Lucy freezes immediately, her mouth suddenly feeling extremely dry.

"W-When did she tell you that?" She asks, her heart racing inside of her chest from anxiety.

"A few weeks before we started dating," He says, and Lucy can't help but note the tinge of sadness in his voice before he quickly adds," I think."

Lucy inhales sharply through her nose. Why would Lisanna tell him that?

"So, do you like him?" Natsu asks slowly.

Lucy has to hold back a scoff. Would she be so willingly laying in his arms if she didn't?

"He's just a friend." Lucy says without any hesitation.

And it was true. As much as she loved Gray for who he was, he was just a friend. A very good friend and quite possibly the best she's had ever since Natsu went missing from her life.

This time it's Natsu's turn to scoff.

"You can be honest with me Luce."

Lucy playfully punches him in the chest.

"I am being honest, he's just a friend."

Natsu rolls his eyes teasingly.

"Suuuuure."

Pulling away from his embrace, the blonde looks him in the eyes sticking her tongue out playfully.

"What were you jealous for a second at the possibility that I may like him?" She asks playfully, her eyes bouncing in mischief as she notices the priceless expression of shock on his face before he fumbles for words.

"N-No! Why would I be jealous I have a girlfriend." He stammers, clearly caught off guard.

This causes Lucy's brow to rise. Was Natsu seriously jealous of Gray out of all people?

"You seem pretty jealous to me." Lucy says, trying her best to suppress a giggle. Wait until Gray hears about this, he'll be in hysterics.

"Jealous of a stripper? In your dreams."

"Suuuuuuuure." Lucy taunts him, enjoying the playful banter all too much.

Is this what flirting is like? Because boy oh boy if it was, her and Natsu have been doing it all their life.

Did he ever have a moment where he saw it like that? Or did he always think of her as a friend?

"Say Natsu, how are things between you and Lisanna. As your best friend, I do have a lot of catching up to do." Lucy says, trying her best to sound interested when in reality she just wants to see if he's really happy with her.

From yesterday's car ride and phone call, which she guessed was from her, she's wondering if things could possibly (hopefully) be falling apart.

Not that she wanted Natsu to be unhappy, she just wanted him to be happy…with her.

As selfish as that may be.

"Good." He says all too quickly, and Lucy can spot that lie all the way from China. She can always tell when he's lying; the nervous jitter in his voice gives it all away.

"Are you sure? You didn't sound it yesterday in the car." She presses, though gently.

Natsu sighs.

"It's just, ever since I told her I'm heading home for the holidays she's been acting kind of weird." He admits, running a hand through his rose colored hair.

Lucy nods slowly, wondering how to respond.

"Do you know why?" She decides on asking.

Natsu shrugs.

"No idea, something about spending time away from her. But that's the thing. She's so clingy, I mean trust me I like spending time with her it's just…I need my space." He confesses.

Lucy only nods, offering him what little she can by just listening. Truthfully, she knew Lisanna's true colors, how easily she can ditch people so hearing that she' so clingy is quite surprising. She wasted no time getting rid of Lucy and here she was clinging to her best friend like an unwanted leech.

The blonde grits her teeth.

She's about to tell Natsu this, because why the hell not? When a ring of the doorbell interrupts her.

The two listen attentively as someone gets the door before Lucy's mother calls out from the foyer.

"Natsu, someone's here to see you!" She yells loudly.

Natsu gives Lucy a confused look, both wondering who it could be. Standing from the couch they make their way downstairs.

Seeing who's at the door causes Lucy's blood to turn ice cold.

"Natsuuuuuu!"

. . .

"Lisanna?"


End file.
